Everto
by Rayneken
Summary: Hinata meets Naruto, falls in love, and then finds out he's a demon. Because just when you think everything is going perfectly is when it always manages to mess up.
1. Something Like A Prologue

I do not own Naruto. More importantly, I do not own Hinata. Most importantly, I do not own a gem encrusted crown. Dang it.

Author's Notes: Should I be investing my time and efforts into A) Studying, and B) Finishing Beginnings? Yes. Yes I should. But considering both of those items are currently on the back burners of my brain due to the desire not to touch either of them with a fifty-foot long pole, I present the FFN community with this trifle to sait my own insanity. See, I said another story was coming! You should have run when you had the chance.

Enough of my rambling, down to the meat.

This will be entered in either one-shots or drabbles, but will have a plot and will progress in a conformed order. Later on, I plan to progress to chapters. I do not promise regular updates, but I do promise they will come.

In the meantime, since my Author's Note is now probably longer than this prologue (AND THIS IS A PROLOGUE!), please enjoy.

oOo

Hinata snatched up her purse, fingers fumbling with the thin strap, and moved as quickly as her heels and dress allowed to the elevator. She jabbed the down button, and then jabbed it again when the doors didn't immediately open.

_Did he see me?_ She wondered, checking over her shoulder for any familiar flash of hair or eye. _Does he know I'm here?_

A familiar, full-throated laugh made her hair stand on end, and she jabbed at the brass button again. He had been across the room, and the silk and ceremony of the party had parted for just long enough that she had been able to catch the side of his grin and a laughing eye. She had turned away immediately, but, as she had always known it would, her heart had broken at the sight of him; standing there, laughing, as if he had simply washed away the blood crusted on his hands.

Her nails—manicured, just for tonight, as a splurge for the party- dug into her palm. There was another laugh, closer.

Oh yes, he had definitely seen her.

Her hands were clammy, and she worried she was going to sweat her make-up off. She hurried the elevator on. _Come on, rescue me. You can do it. Come on!_

There was a familiar _ding!_ and she jumped inside as soon as the doors were wide enough, hand already scrabbling at the wall for the Close Doors.

"Hold the elevator!"

Hinata jumped, looked up to see him walking—too quickly, how had she never noticed how quickly he walked before all this?—toward her. He maneuvered through the crowd so smoothly, so calmly, like there was no one else but them in the whole room. His eyes met hers, and he must have seen the terror, because for a moment, only a moment, he slowed.

But the moment was enough, and her fingers slammed into the right buttons.

The doors rattled closed on his swiftly narrowing eyes, and she allowed herself to lean back against the wall for support. Her bag fell from her nerveless fingers.

_Naruto,_ she thought, heart aching, throat tight. _Oh, Naruto…_

oOo

Author's Notes: Yes indeed.

And I just feel that I should warn you that the army of brain-sucking tribbles will be coming after you if you don't review. I felt it was only fair to let you know. So, yes, please review.


	2. Meetings of Unfortunate Circumstance

Disclaimer: Do you ever have days when you think you have everything, and then you have to write a disclaimer? I'm having one of those days.

Author's Notes: I may have lied mildly in the last chapter. This story is starting to look much less like a collection, and much more like a full-on, knock-down-drag-out, full-fledged, (funny how many of these words have dashes) chapter fic. It seems I have not yet overcome my addiction. And my therapist had such high hopes...

This IS set BEFORE the first chapter. I.E. the first chapter being the prologue, and this being an actual chapter that has cohesive plot and genius characterization throughout. (Yes, I'm laughing at my delusions as well.)

Anyway, this one is rather longer than the usual length I plan on posting. Please enjoy it!

oOo

_Some day we will look back on this, laugh nervously, and change the subject. -Someone's Profile_

oOo

_Three years, six months, one week, and four days earlier. January._

Hinata had long since consigned herself to the unhappy state of permanently being in the process of freezing to death.

She had always known it would one day be her fate; her hands would go completely cold and she would be buried in the Bahamas along with Frosty the Snowman. She had always been cold-natured, with goosebumps popping up on her arms and legs in anything under eighty degrees, but she hadn't known it would happen after falling on the icy steps of the subway with her butt three inches in slush. It was _cold,_ and now she was going to be late to her meeting with her potential client and—and—it was _cold._

_Moving to New York?_ Hinata thought, standing up gingerly and wiping at her dark slacks with one pink gloved hand. They were going to take forever to dry. _Brilliant idea. I'm cold natured so, naturally, I choose somewhere cold to achieve my dreams of interior design. Brilliant idea._

"Um, hey," someone said from behind her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Hinata sighed, turning around. Any other words froze in her throat at the sight of a blond-haired, blue eyed, modern day Adonis in jeans and a blinding orange jacket. His head was cocked to the side, his lips lightly chapped, and he was just beginning to grin.

"So you're just standing in the middle of the stairs patting at your rear because you had a workout this morning and are testing for tension," he said wisely, grin coming out in full, sparkling view. "I do that myself."

Hinata could feel the blush start in her toes, and it just worked its way up from there. It was really quite helpful, because her bum was going numb from its continued icy dip. She wondered how many other people had seen her make a complete idiot out of herself and—she realized with a wince—bruise her tailbone.

"No—I—sorry," Hinata stammered, clinging to the rail and pressing herself against the graffitied wall. "I just—I slipped—I… I am _so_ sorry."

"Nah," the guy said, moving to lean beside her so a man (who shot them a nasty look and was flipped the bird by her impromptu companion in return) could get by. "It's all good. So, to return to my earlier question: Are you okay? I mean, if you fell down…"

"Oh!" Hinata said, and let herself entertain the idea he was being so nice because he wanted her phone number for a moment. Probably not. He was good looking, kind, and therefore taken. Or gay. Or taken _and_ gay. Or taken and gay and with a jealous lover that was going to kill and bury her.

Her life was officially hitting a new low.

"No," Hinata said firmly, sidling down the steps and being much more careful about where she placed her feet. She shivered as the ice water soaked through her underwear. "I'm okay. Thank you, though. I really appreciate it."

"No problem," the guy said, nodded a goodbye, and jogged down the last few steps to evaporate among the labyrinth of the New York subway.

Hinata stood watching him go for a moment, thinking that somehow he was familiar, and then remembered she had places to be, things to do, and people to pump for every last cent they owned so she could pay her heating bill.

_Oh,_ she thought sadly, _heat…_

She hurried past the musicians and dancers putting themselves on display for a few extra bucks. Pressing through the turn stile, she barely made it on the train before the doors rattled shut, grateful for the blasts of warm air on her frozen cheeks.

_Ah, heat… heat, heat, __**heat.**__ Wonderful, amazing, incredible, lovely, heat._

She took a seat between a man hugging his briefcase like a lifeline, suit the worse for wear, and another man with a gold watch on his wrist talking a mile a minute on his cell phone. He swore a great deal, and most of his conversation seemed to consist solely of berating the person on the other end about how much of an idiot they were, how much money he shouldn't be sending them, the stupidity of their mother, and any interruption was quickly cut off with a steady stream of swearing.

Hinata spent most of the ride focusing on how cold her butt was, how much thinner her coat seemed, and the contents of her wallet to know which store she should stop at for an immediate pants transferral.

Not too pricey, as it turned out, but she was able to find a replacement that didn't scream 'jump me!' or 'mother-in-training'. She rather wished she had Ino and Sakura with her at times like these, her friends were shopping geniuses; but Sakura's grandmother had recently died and Ino had gone with her to Georgia to handle the sale of the family farm.

She walked into the coffee shop to meet her client five minutes late by her watch, and two minutes early by anyone else's. Her much-loved-but-none-the-less-had-_betrayed-_her pair of pants was stuffed into a bag she had also managed to pick up. She probably looked ridiculous. One nice little black number slung over one shoulder, and a big, striped cloth thing thrown over the other—topped, of course, by a big wet splotch on one side. Hinata silently prayed to whomever might be listening that the client wouldn't notice.

The meeting place her cli—_prospective_ client, she reminded herself—had opted for was blatantly casual and was, blessedly, well within her price range. She hadn't been sure what she would have done if she couldn't afford her meal. Probably run screaming in the other direction. Or, if she wasn't too humiliated, just climb under her covers and will the world away.

She chose a small table at the front, near the doors so she could see whoever was coming in. The man she was meeting had been very specific about what he was wearing, so she was sure she would—

She froze, dug in her pocket for the small slip of paper that had the client's information, and groaned aloud. He would be wearing an orange and black jacket, just as she would be wearing her purple one, so that surely they would spot each other right off. Except they already had. Because now she knew why the nice man earlier had seemed familiar, he was the client that had called her just yesterday. He was the client that had watched her make a complete fool of herself this morning, taking an icy, bumpy slide down into the subway.

Yup, she was going to have to run screaming.

_I could just kill myself now_, she thought. _And save myself the humiliation. I could just take one of those nice plastic knives and shove it into my brain and swirl it like the Egyptians used to. Or throw myself in the way of oncoming traffic. …Or I suppose I could just overdose on the coffee beans in the back and have a heart attack. Either, or._

To calm herself, Hinata spent a good deal of her time people watching (always waiting for a flash of orange coat). The general hustle and bustle was interesting in its own way. People coming and going and staying in all different shapes, sizes, colors, cloths, mannerisms, emotions… She wondered how many of them thought the same thing when they watched people. Did they wonder about other's pasts? Did they imagine what such-and-such person did with their lives? Maybe the woman in the red coat was a Russian spy. She had the cheekbones for it…

"Um, excuse me? Are you Hinata Hyuuga?"

Hinata looked up, already trying to contain her mortification at the thought of seeing the grinning god again, but instead found a portly gentleman about the age of forty, nearly bald, and nervous looking, wearing a black and orange jacket—that, really, was more black than orange.

Her face flushed in surprising anger. All that time worrying, and the man in the subway hadn't even bothered to show up!

The nerve.

"Yes," Hinata said instead, smoothly, standing up and shaking his proffered hand. "And you must be Mister Maier, so nice to meet you. Why don't we get some coffee, and then we can sit down and discuss this project of yours. It was your sitting room, wasn't it?"

oOo

Author's Notes: Strangely, I feel like I forgot to tell you all something, but for the life of me I can't remember to tell you what I must have forgotten. So I'll digress and ramble for a bit, because I know how much you all love to see me ramble.

(Insert witty and clever ramble here about all the witty and clever things I forgot to say.)

There we are then.

Please review, it will probably make my day.

Oh! And any suggestions or critiques? Long reviews are fun, but short ones are great too... and now I am rambling. Sorry. I'll just let you get on with life now...


	3. Caramel and Computers

Disclaimer: I do not believe I do.

Author's Notes: So there is another.

And, while there is sadly no Naruto in this chapter, he does appear next time. (Yay!) Please enjoy.

oOo

_When women are depressed, they eat or shop. Men invade another country. -Unknown_

oOo

Hinata's apartment was warm and comforting by the time she got back to it that afternoon, and she slipped off her shoes with a huge sigh of relief. She had been such a patron saint of polity today with that—that—stuffy, bad-tempered, imbecilic, snot-nosed child of a half-demented penguin and fully demented goldfish, and she felt the simple pleasure of removing her shoes should also be accompanied by a piffling trifle of chocolatey goodness.

She ripped open her bag of caramel kisses (hidden from her late night munching on the top shelf behind the raisins. She _despised_ raisins and the only reason she kept them was to deter herself from stuffing gold wrapped chocolate down her throat on an hourly basis) and plopped down on her couch, getting a good hold of the remote and switching on the TV. She balked at Jerry Springer, was mortified at Dr. Oz, and was very nearly forced to settle on something about the historical virtues of toilet paper when her phone rang.

_Salvation, thy name is dum, dee, dum, dee, dum, dee._

She snatched it up and pressed it to her ear, muting the TV in an instant. She remembered just in time that she needed to swallow her current sugary confection before speaking could be allowed, which she did, and then managed a: "Hello, Hinata speaking."

"Hey, Sis!" Hanabi chirped from the other end. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Hinata said, snuggling into her couch cushion and unwrapping another foil-covered kiss. "How about you?"

"You don't sound fine."

"Bit of a tough day is all. Really, how are you?"

"Tell me what happened!"

Hanabi was a sweet, wonderful sister, one that Hinata truly and sincerely adored. She was always ready to help and just _be there_ when ever Hinata needed her.

But she couldn't take a hint to save her life.

Sure, her computer engineer skills came in handy when there was a crashed modem, or even a vending machine refusing to give nirvana to a starving soul, but she was much more likely to take a screwdriver to anything before she tried to figure out the _why_ behind it.

"Hanabi, really," Hinata said. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Why?"

"Just because."

"Oh, _come on_, I grew out of that excuse _at least_ last week!"

Hinata chuckled in spite of herself. "Oh, alright," she grabbed another kiss from the bag, and slowly unwrapped it so as not to tear the delicate foil. "It started out well enough. I was excited to see that client-"

"How'd that go?"

"Wait, I'm getting there. But I tripped on the subway steps and soaked my pants,"

"Oh no!"

"and then this guy,"

"_Ooh…_"

"just- actually he just kind of brushed past me, but he did ask if I was okay. Which was really nice, and sweet, and just made me feel better. And then I had to go to a department store and was stuck wearing unwashed department store pants-"

"_Eww._"

"—all day. And my client! You will have never met a more indecisive, bigoted man in your life. He only wanted to hire me because I was a girl and decorating was 'woman's work' that his wife was too good for."

"The cad!"

"You—okay, now you're just making fun of me," Hinata said, turning off the television just as a man whose glasses almost masked the size of his nose, impressive bulk just barely squished into the huge leather armchair, came on. She felt strange, ranting like this. When was the last time she had done it? A month? Two? Six? She couldn't remember.

"I wasn't!" Hanabi protested in her ear. "I just don't get to use the word cad very often is all. My quota is used, I swear."

Hinata smiled a little more, and stood to put the kisses anyway. Anymore of them and she'd start feeling guilty. All of the preserved wrappers went into the trashcan, and she was faced, very unhappily, with the dishes from her breakfast that morning. Yes, an omelet, what a brilliant idea that had been; a morning when the world was full of possibilities instead of wet pants and jerk-ish men.

"Hey, you still there?" Hanabi asked, annoyance already setting up to do war on her tongue.

"Yes," Hinata said, situating the phone between her shoulder and ear carefully. "Sorry. Tell me about your day."

"Oh, it was okay. One of Dad's friends sent over a dinosaur of a computer in the hopes that I could fix it. I'm still debating on whether I should just dump coffee in it or not."

"Oh," Hinata said, hands slipping in the soap and water as she filled the sink and started work on her cup. "And—and how is Dad?"

"He's good! I think he misses you."

Hinata swallowed, remembering their nearly-silent fight not two weeks ago, and shook her head. She just barely rescued the phone from taking an unpleasant swim in the suds. "Maybe."

"You two have got to stop fighting at some point."

"I don't think he's ever really going to forgive me," Hinata said, grabbing a towel to dry with. "Giving the company to Neji-nii and becoming an interior designer… I just don't know. It's what he's always wanted for me, and his throwing my lack of anything into my face with those pointed comments whenever I-"

She took a deep breath, stopped abusing her plate, and let it out slowly. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Hanabi said cheerfully. "Dad's a hard a-"

"Hanabi!"

"Dollar sign, dollar sign. He'll come around eventually."

Hinata put the plate away, chuckling. "I hope so."

"Listen, I've gotta go, a bag-of-bones if banging on the door asking for his stegosaurus. I've gotta go dump coffee on it so he'll stop bugging me. Talk to you later?"

"Won't you at least save his files?"

"Already did."

"Good job, dear. Yes, I'll talk to you later."

"Alright, ciao!"

"Ciao."

Hinata wiped her hands and unstuck her phone from her ear, laying it carelessly on the counter. She really needed to get out her sketchpad and start working on the layout for Mister Maier's sitting room if she was going to get paid. She sighed, put her dishes away, turned on some music, and plopped down on the couch with her sketch book and the pictures Mister Maier had given her spread on the cushion next to her.

_Hmm,_ she thought, tapping her pencil against her chin. _I wonder if putting a giant poster of Rosie the Riveter on the wall would be too blatant…_

oOo

Author's Notes: Comments, questions, concerns? Excellent. Just praise then.

...I'm kidding.

Though, I would greatly appreciate it if you happened to review on your way out. For new time's sake.


	4. Breakfast at Good Morning

Disclaimer: Sadly, I continue to not hold legal rights to Naruto. That honor belongs to Kishimoto.

Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoy the chapter, and a big thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!

oOo

_Parva scintilla saepi magnam flamem excitat. - A small spark often ignites a large flame._

oOo

The chords of Beethoven's Fifth pounding against her ears were what woke her. Sitting straight up in bed, hair a nest, eyes grainy, brain foggy, she fumbled blindly for her phone. When she finally got it to her ear she barely managed a grumbling of: "Hello?"

"Um," someone said from the other end. "I think I have the wrong number…"

"Sorry," Hinata croaked. Her voice was always cranky when she first woke, but now it just sounded like a dying bullfrog.

"Yeah… Is this Hinata Hyuuga…?"

"Yes," Hinata groaned, and grabbed her alarm clock to check the time. "I'm sorry, there must be a time difference. It's only five in the morning here…"

"No, there's no time difference. Sorry for waking you."

Hinata yawned. "That's alright, Sir. I'm sorry, who is this?"

"Oops. My bad. I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. I think we actually met in the subway the other day… yesterday? Yeah. Yesterday."

Hinata was suddenly, thoroughly awake.

"Oh!"

"Yeah, so, I'll just call back later…"

"No, it's fine!" Hinata assured him, sitting up in bed and turning on her lamp. She tried to smooth her bangs down with one hand and cleared her throat discreetly. "Really. What can I do for you?"

"Well," Naruto said, voice a warm tenor even through the phone. "You dropped your card, I happened to pick it up. I'm looking for someone who does that whole… paint thing. And coordination thing, and napkin thing, and… yeah, that stuff. Oh! How's your butt?"

"…I'm sorry?" Hinata asked, relatively sure she had heard wrong.

"That came out wrong," Naruto said quickly. "I mean, you fell, so I was just asking if you were okay. Which would probably have been better than 'How's your butt', but I… Yeah."

"I'm fine," Hinata assured him, smiling. "Thank you for your concern."

"Right. So, napkins and stuff?"

"I definitely do all of that," Hinata assured him, grabbing a pen and paper. "And I would love to meet with you to discuss some specifics if you would like. Or we can do most of it over the phone."

She didn't like that option. Just because he was taken, gay, and guarded by a jealous lover did not equate to any reason in existence to not simply _look_.

"That'd be great!" Naruto said. "The in-person I mean. What do you have tomorr—today. What do you have today?"

Hinata didn't even have to check her schedule. "I'm free just about anytime. I'm just sketching a product for another client."

"Okay, then seven-ish? For breakfast? Unless you want to back to sleep of course. Which I totally get, because I would have killed anybody that woke me up early. I guess I just wasn't thinking, you know?"

His impressively quick vernacular left Hinata's sleep-addled senses floundering a moment, but she found herself agreeing. "Seven it is. Where would you like to meet?"

"I know a good little place on the corner of East and Seventh. It's called Good Morning. Good food and stuff."

"Sounds perfect," Hinata said, writing it all down. "Can I get your number in case we need to rearrange?"

"Sure… You know, you're really poised for just being woke up."

"Thank you," Hinata said pinching her wrists, and trying to rub her eyes at the same time. It wound up in some kind of strange uncoordinated movement that ended with her stabbing herself with her pen. She barely resisted the impulse to screech. "Your number?"

"Oh, right. 212-867-5309."

"Alright, thank you so much for your time Mister Uzumaki."

"Yeah, sure, no problem. So I guess I'll see you soon?"

"See you then."

Hinata's poise lasted just long enough for her to lay her phone on the nightstand, and then she was up and tearing through her daily routine. She _had_ to make a good impression. She had to be professional, poised, and confident. She couldn't afford to lose a client because of her clumsiness!

Hinata was plenty early to the meeting, arriving by her watch at 6:40. Good Morning was a hole-in-the-wall—cozy, bright, and cheerful—and Hinata could smell how good the food was going to be as soon as she stepped in. Eggs, ham, biscuits, pastries—she could just imagine every flaky morsel of a biscuit melting in her mouth, and every perfectly salted bite of egg sliding down along with it. Her mouth watered.

"You're here early."

Hinata whirled to see Naruto just coming in behind her, snow in his hair and his nose red with cold. He was grinning, hands shoved deep in his pockets, and looked as if he hadn't a care in the world.

She smiled for him. "Hello, Mister Uzumaki. Would you like to-"

"Wait!" He cried. "Mister Uzumaki is my grandpa. And occasionally my mom when she's really scary. Call me Naruto."

"Alright, Naruto," Hinata said. "Then please call me Hinata. Would you like to start with breakfast?"

"Yes," he said firmly. "I'm starving to death as we stand here. If I don't eat soon, I'll just waste away into absolute nothingness and-"

"Liar!" Someone yelled from the high counter along the back wall, a stout woman in a hair net and a scowl. "You were in here no less than three hours ago eating me out of house and home, Uzumaki!"

"Oh now, Mrs. Blanchard," Naruto said, tugging Hinata with him to the counter and leaning on it with a charming smile. "Do you have to embarrass me in front of the lady?"

"Do you have to embarrass yourself?" Blanchard snorted. "Whippersnapper. What'll it be?"

"You're not quite _that_ old, Blanchard! You don't have to call me whippersnapper yet…"

"I'm old enough to call you what I like."

"Even whippersnapper?"

"Even that."

_Now there's an interesting relationship,_ Hinata thought, not bothering to hide her smile. _Old friends, almost, with just a little bit of mothering thrown in._

"And what would you like?" Blanchard asked, turning to Hinata, pencil and pad in hand.

"What would you recommend?"

"The eggs," Blanchard and Naruto said at once, and laughed.

"The eggs it is," Hinata said agreeably, pulling out her wallet. Naruto stalled her.

"I got this," he said with a wink. "Blanchard…."

Blanchard turned, eyes snapping. "You are not skimming another free meal."

"_Please._"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please with cherries."

"Shut up and sit down."

"Thank you!"

Hinata took her seat, a little bemused by the exchange. "You two sure have an interesting relationship."

"She was my grandma's cook," Naruto explained. "Mom was always getting under her feet and stuff, and then I started getting under her feet as soon as I was old enough to not just get squished into jelly."

"Sounds about right," Hinata said, remembering her own straight-laced nanny. She had loved Panako like a mother, but the woman had always presented a very gruff front, and loved comparing herself to either Oscar or The Cookie Monster. 'Because of my big belly!' she would always roar, and Hinata would just sit in her ample lap and giggle. "Now, what was it you had in mind?"

"Okay," Naruto said, hands lacing on the table and face settling into a serious expression. It looked strange on him, like a clown frowning when their face was already painted into a smile. "So I'm opening this restaurant, and it's going to be swanky so I can pump people for more than a couple dimes, and I need someone to do the decorating… stuff."

"Alright," Hinata said. "What exactly are the dimensions?"

Naruto scratched his head. "…Big? I would need you to do like the _whole thing_ too. You know, the bathrooms and kitchen and everything."

"Ah," Hinata said faintly. Big job. _Very_ big job. "So are you a cook, Mister—sorry, Naruto?"

"No!" Naruto laughed. "But I have a friend who is and I thought, hey, why not take a stab at the fancy restaurant business?"

"Why not indeed," Hinata agreed, but inside she was beginning to realize that the shoes he was wearing probably cost more than an entire month's electric bill for her apartment. They were just tennis shoes sure, but she knew some of those could run upwards of a thousand dollars. "Now I hate to bring this up so soon, but the cost for this…"

They talked shop until their eggs came, and Naruto had to take a break to flatter Blanchard endlessly about how nice she looked that morning and, hey, was that a new hairnet?

It was.

Hinata took a bite of her eggs distractedly while she added figures, and stopped as soon as the flavors exploded in her mouth. It was like nothing she had ever tasted before. The eggs were gooey with cheese and crunchy with bacon, melting into her mouth and sliding down her throat with happy ease. It was like the flavors had a sudden party in her mouth, and Hinata was shoveling more egg into her mouth before she could even think.

Naruto laughed. "Good, huh?"

"These are the most incredible eggs I have ever had," Hinata groaned. "What did she _do_ to them?"

"I have no idea, but I am at least fifty percent sure she made a deal with the devil for the recipe."

"And the other fifty percent?" Hinata asked, taking a long sip of milk. She blinked. Even the _milk_ tasted better here.

"A deal with God. Either way, it was a deal with a higher power."

"You forgot to count Will Smith."

"Ah, yes, my bad."

The rest of the meal passed companionably in playful banter and the occasional desperate insertion (only by Hinata) about work. Naruto hadn't been prepared, and had no idea what to expect, but Hinata had been able to walk him through it pretty well. In the end, it turned out to be the best business meeting she had ever had. Naruto was over-the-top charming, and blatantly honest about his opinions.

"Well," Hinata said, once they had finished their meal and were re-bundling to face the icy bite outside. "Then I will come by tomorrow to see your restaurant, and we can decide on a price."

"Sounds good," Naruto said, shaking her hand, and holding on longer than he should have. He grinned when she blushed. "I'll see you then."

"Yeah," Hinata agreed, quickly pulling on her gloves. Her hands were very warm, and she was having tingles. Tingles. Over a client! "See you then."

oOo

Author's Notes: Please review! It would make me simply ecstatic.


	5. Family Time and Posters

I do not own Naruto.

oOo

"The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter." - Mark Twain

oOo

Hinata hummed _The Sound of Music_ to herself as she crossed the busy street, enjoying watching the snowflakes as they fell overhead from the crimped gray sky. Everything always seemed so much softer when there was snowfall, blurred a bit more around the edges and blanketing noise to echoes of its usual volume. Her boots crunched on the sidewalk, old gray slush that had not yet melted was piled against the buildings, the fresh layer covering the worst.

It was cold of course. Her parka, gloves, hat, scarf, and extra layer of socks did a lot to keep the chill away, but it didn't catch all the little nips that seeped in between cracks to strike at bare flesh. She was willing to bare it all though, even the nonsensical chatter of the passerby, just to have a few breaths of fresh air. She had kept herself cooped in her apartment too long, and it was nice just to get out and stretch her legs.

_These are a few of my favorite things_, Hinata sang in her head, dodging around a red-faced woman dragging a surly teenager with dark hair and a pierced nose down the street. _Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens…_

Fingers beginning to numb, Hinata took refuge in the first store she saw that didn't have lingerie as its main attraction and browsed. She wandered aimlessly for a while and ended up in the housewares section that was displaying a sign for grills, thirty percent off. _Do I need a new grill? No. No I do not. Of course I could use it for protection if someone ever broke in, I suppose. But what are the chances they could get by that big metal bat Neji bought me for Christmas? Or the tazer Kiba gave me for Valentine's day last year? Or… why do all the presents I receive lead to violent images?_

Shaking her head she bypassed the grills to get on the escalator. Maybe she should have a talk with her boys about appropriate presents. They were probably just concerned, may have even had a right to be, but she wouldn't have minded some jewelry that didn't have pepper spray attached.

"Hinata _darling,_" Someone cried, and out of the crowd swept thin, sweet little Aunt Hitomi, beaming. As soon as Hinata stepped off the escalator she was encased in a hug consisting of nothing but bones and silk. "I've missed you!"

_And then there are days,_ Hinata thought as she returned the sentiment and hug; _that I wish for pepper spray jewelry._

Aunt Hitomi fawned over her for a while, stroking her hair and criticizing her blush choice, before Hinata was dragged over to a horribly convenient bench to have a chat.

There were fifty-six of Hinata's relatives that lived within the city limits. She loved most all of them, and holidays were always exciting, but having a family that ruled a good portion of the businesses wherever you went could be occasionally exhausting- or suicide inducing, depending on which relative she dealt with.

"—and I am _so_ glad you're extending the Hyuuga Sphere of Influence into interior design. Just genius! I'm sure my dearest wouldn't have any problems handling _any_ advertising that needs doing. Are you going to the family reunion? It's only two months away you know!"

"Only two months?" Hinata asked, voice falsetto. "That's so much… earlier than last year."

"Oh I know," Hitomi said, French-tip nails gleaming in the light as she threw curled blond hair over her shoulder. "But it'll be so much fun! We're bringing the nanny to watch the children of course. They're such a handful!"

Hinata wasn't sure how Hitomi would know her children were a handful when she only saw them about three times a week, but decided to take her word for it.

"Yes, well, kids. And all that. Well, it was wonderful talking to you, Aunt," Hinata said, standing and edging away with a nervous chuckle. "But I have to be going. Very busy…"

"We'll have to have dinner together soon!" Hitomi gushed, brushing imaginary dust off her stylish skirt suit. "And, really dear, you may want to rethink that lipstick choice. It makes that pale skin of yours just wash out! Not that your dark hair doesn't do that already. Have you ever considered highlights?"

"No," Hinata said, smiling with clenched teeth. "Goodbye, Aunt."

"Goodbye, Dear!"

Hinata made a face as soon as she was out of range, and tugged on her hair. Hitomi meant well, she really did, but sometimes she could be overbearing.

And annoying.

And rude.

And perhaps she even occasionally bordered on an imbecilic dolt.

Hinata sighed, pushing unkind thoughts away, and focused on the rack in front of her. It was filled with brightly colored silk ties, a yellow one with blue stripes standing out from the rest. She fingered it gently. It reminded her of the tie she had gotten Father for his birthday…

Of course, she had thrown it at his closed office door after their fight (which now seemed a little childish, looking back) but at least she had given it to him.

She really had to stop dwelling on this.

A poster sale across the room caught her eye, and she smiled.

_Well I'll be_, she thought gleefully, almost laughing out loud as she walked over and pulled one out. _If it isn't Miss Rosie the Riveter…_

oOo

Author's Notes: Next chapter includes Naruto in all his glory, and Hinata caving to his, um, "charm".

Please review!


	6. Decoration and Confusion

I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: I apologize that school takes up so much of my time, or I would have been able to post this yesterday. For those who would like to send hate mail to my professors, which I encourage as I'm not allowed to do it until I graduate, I will very happily let you take up with them the monopolizing of my life. Until such time, I hope you enjoy this chapter, which not ONLY incoporates the most wonderful couple of all time, it also introduces the sadistic best friend of the blond.

Thank you to all who reviewed! ( Fanfiction is anal about me actually putting their pen-names on here, but you know who you are, and you're awesome.)

oOo

_"I know that you believe that you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure that you realize that what you heard is not what I meant." - Robert McCloskey_

oOo

Hinata's heels clacked against the polished wood floor as she surveyed her work space. It was large, airy, with floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides to show off the New York sky line in all its cold, foggy glory. It had her bemoaning her own rabbit-hutch of an apartment. Small, crowded, and inescapably narrow in a steel skyscraper that was as irritable as its occupants. This room—this wonderland of mirrored surfaces and empty space—was a divine change from the crowded hustle and bustle of the city.

She ripped her sketchbook out of her bag and started imagining.

_A crystal chandelier—Naruto said he wants Paris as a theme, so… maybe each crystal shaped as an Eiffel Tower—or a Fleur-De-Li? Definitely Fluer-De-Li's...It could hang from right there, right in the center, and there could be a dance floor! Just soft music of course, but enough room for the occasional string quartet… We can have the backs of the chairs shaped like the Arc de Triomphe I suppose… make it a totally new world as soon as they step in through the door. Such as that movie theater in Hollywood. Like nothing they've ever seen before and—_

Someone tapped her shoulder.

Hinata whirled, sketchpad raised to clobber—a bred reaction to the wonderful experience of living with a particularly mischievous sister and having a best friend with a dog as big as she was—and lowered it quickly. It was only Naruto, arms raised in surrender, grinning like a loon.

Hinata decided, right then, that she needed to destroy this habit before it could cause serious and permanent damage to some unsuspecting personage that went tapping.

Like a client.

"Naruto!" Hinata gasped. "I am _so_ sorry! I was j—just—"

"Lost in your own little world?" Naruto offered. "Does that happen often?"

"I try not to do it in public," Hinata admitted, blushing and clutching her sketchbook to her chest. "I was just… thinking…"

"Thinking what?"

Hinata handed him the paper, and his eyes got wide as he perused. "This is…"

"It's too expensive," Hinata agreed immediately, reaching out for her sketch. "It was just a rough draft, I can fix it…"

"No!" Naruto said, pulling the paper away, smile getting wider as he stared. His smile reached all the way to his eyes, making them crinkle and shine with undisguised happiness. "I love it. I _love_ it. I hadn't even thought about a dance floor! That's what this is, right? And we could do displays with the food here too. I've got a guy here that can do some pretty incredible stuff with knives… What are these?"

Hinata peeked over his shoulder. "Oh. We can make the back ripple with all the different sights of Paris. And you see here? The tablecloths could be rimmed with black lace in the shape of mini Towers…"

"Yeah! Yeah!" Naruto enthused, looking up and down from room to drawing. "_Awesome._ This is going to be great! I mean, really, really great!"

"But—the cost…"

"Oh," Naruto blinked. "Yeah. I don't handle that much." He turned and hollered at the swinging doors leading to the kitchen: "Sasuke! Sasuke! Money!"

When this elicited absolutely no response at all, Naruto took a deep breath and hollered: "OH NO! NOT THE WINDOWS!"

The doors opened with a _bang_, and a handsome man in a dark suit came stomping out, seething in anger, his black eyes narrowed to poisonous slits.

Hinata took a step back, but Naruto gave her a wink of reassurance and met the thunder cloud of a man head on with quick cheer and an utter lack of anything resembling the common sense of fear. "Sasuke! There you are. Glad to see your ears still work. The designer's here to discuss price!"

The man (Sasuke, she supposed) took this happy speech in two ground-eating strides and cuffed Naruto on the head. "Do not," he ordered. "Joke about the windows. Do you know how much those windows cost? Do you?"

"Enough?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, dark spiked hair practically humming in anger. "Yes. _Enough._"

"Well great," Naruto said, and pulled Hinata forward. "Hinata, Sasuke Uchiha—my pain-in-the butt of a business partner," he introduced, hands on her shoulders. "Sasuke, Hinata Hyuuga—our beautiful designer… person."

Hinata held out her hand, pushing down the flame trying to work its way into her cheeks from the compliment. "Hello. It's very nice to meet you."

It was like a switch had been flipped. One minute Sasuke stood there angry, and the next he was cordial. He shook her hand gently, eying her curiously. "So _you're_ Hinata."

Hinata pretended to ignore the 'Shut-up!' and 'I'll kill you' gestures Naruto was making behind her, and smiled. "Yes."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, and raised an eyebrow at Naruto. "Interesting." He turned back to Hinata so fluidly she almost missed him moving at all. His movements were almost serpentine, and she found herself wondering if he danced. "What is the estimated cost?"

"Well," Hinata demurred. "There will be a lot of specialty work that has to be done with the current design, which can be modified, but I know a lot of people that can get it to us for relatively cheap…"

To her surprise, Sasuke agreed with every part of her design, and only winced a little at her estimated cost. "Naruto," he explained, when he caught the question in her eyes. "Knows good work when he sees it. He knows what will draw people in, make them stay, and pay through the nose for it. We'll get it all back."

"So Naruto is the face of the company?" Hinata asked hesitantly.

"Basically," Naruto agreed cheerfully. "I get to go to board meetings and wow them with my spectacular personality-" here, he smiled winningly. "—and Sasuke steps on my foot when I'm about to say something dumb."

Hinata laughed, and nodded approvingly. "Sounds like you're quite the team."

Sasuke muttered something quietly, and Naruto elbowed him in the gut, smile only slightly strained.

"Well," Hinata said. "Do you have any more questions for me?"

"Um," Naruto floundered, and Sasuke chose that moment to make a speedy exit. "Yeah. I do."

When nothing else was forthcoming, Hinata prompted him with all the patience of a master—one who had spent years entertaining the halting speech of the terminally brain damaged: "Yes?"

He took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "What are you doing for dinner?"

Hinata was utterly confused. "I was thinking I would just heat up the stir-fry I made yesterday."

Naruto pouted. "Oh _come on._"

Her confusion mounted. "I'm sorry, am I missing something?"

Slowly, his usual grin came back. "You're… not hit on often are you?"

Her confusion peaked, and the most intelligible sound available to her befuddled mind turned out to not be intelligent at all. "Huh?"

"Hit on? Asked out? An in… I'm asking you out. On a date. With me."

"_Oh._"

"Now she gets it," he said, scratching at the back of his head. "Wow."

"Sorry," Hinata said. "And sorry again, because I—I'm sorry, but I don't date clients."

_What are you doing?_ She shrieked at herself. _He's out of your league, but he still asked you out! Go. Go!_

"Really, really sorry."

"It's cool," Naruto said, shrugging. "I can understand that. Sasuke forbids me to do the same. He keeps this nifty little steel ruler just in case though…"

Hinata smothered a laugh, feeling incredibly awkward, and ugly, and _stupid._

"Can I walk you out?"

Hinata desperately wanted to shake her head. Of course he couldn't. This was officially going on her list of things she Never Wanted to Have Happen Ever Again; and he was so, _so_ cute…

"Sure."

_Dang it_, she thought.

They took the elevator down, standing an appropriate distance apart, with Hinata trying to shrink in on herself for being an imbecile of epic, Three Stooges type proportions. Since the first time she had seen him, Naruto had a frown on his face for a prolonged period of time.

However, as soon as they got near the subway entrance, the grin was back in full force. "So when do you figure you'll be done with the place?"

"Two weeks," Hinata squeaked, caught by surprise. "Maybe three."

"So you're free the Friday after next after next?"

Hinata stared at him, probably pulling off an excellent imitation of a goldfish, and stuttered: "I—I—I—guess so…"

"Hinata," he said firmly, putting his hands on her shoulders and staring into her eyes. He had gold flecks in there, hidden among the blue. "If you're not interested, tell me now."

"I'm interested," Hinata said quickly, pulse thumping and head spinning full of too many thoughts to properly pin down and arrange into properly constructed sentences involving words actually used in the English language.

"Okay then," Naruto said, beaming. "Then we have a date for the Friday after next after next?"

"Um, yes?"

He pecked her on the forehead, waved, and headed back the other way—whistling _I'm Getting Married in the Morning_ loudly.

Hinata found herself at the bottom of the subway stairs, staring after him; hand pressed to her forehead, face on fire, and quite possibly in shock.

_Wow_, she thought, and only remembered to get moving when her toes morphed from human flesh to ice-cubes. _Wow._

oOo

Author's Notes: I don't own _My Fair Lady_. I felt you all should know that, seeing as I stole their song very happily, and have abolutely no musical talent myself. Also, who else had to read the quote at the top like a bajillion times to get it? If, you know, you actually even read the quotes...

But even if you don't read the quotes, I hope you read the chapter, and I hope the chapter was good enought that you review. (Hint, hint!)

Oh, I almost forgot, I hate my summary, and I was wondering if everyone else did too, or if it's just me. Mind giving me an idea?


	7. Conversation of the Male Variety

I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: Finally, we see a little of Naruto's point of view, and we get a glimpse into Naruto's, um, "Special-ness". Enjoy!

A special thank you to all who reviewed. You are all wonderful!

oOo

_"Life is one fool thing after another, whereas love is two fool things after each other." - Oscar Wilde_

oOo

_Early February._

Naruto was pretty sure this stupid grin was never going to leave his face.

He sighed, leaning back against the door and dropping his jacket near the coat hook.

_Hinata_, he thought. _Hinata, Hinata, lovely Hinata…_

"If you're mush against the door again I will bring out the spatula," Sasuke warned from the kitchen.

"Kinky!" Naruto called back calmly. His response immediately ran into a whole other train of thought which mostly focused on Hinata and lace.

"Stop. It," Sasuke warned, brow furrowed in that truly murderous of ways that showed his inner manic, traumatized side.

"You're just jealous," Naruto shot back. "What's for dinner?"

"Fish. With _eyes._"

"That is so not funny, Man."

"Oh, but it is. So… Hinata, huh?"

A dreamy sigh. "Yeah…"

"And you're going to tell her about your secret… when?"

"Later. Sometime. Sooner rather than later. …After we're married?"

"_Naruto._"

"Soon, okay? In a few months. Geez. You're such a party-pooper."

"And you're an imbecile. Now that we know each other's faults," Sasuke threw the phone at him. "Call the pizza guy. I didn't feel like cooking."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.

oOo

Author's Notes: Very short I know, but I hope interesting. Please review!


	8. Relativity and Other Matters

I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: This does take place _before the date_, as does the next chapter. Thanks so much to all who reviewed!

oOo

_When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity. –Albert Einstein_

oOo

_Early February_

Hinata checked her watch. Five minutes until one. He still had time.

She tapped her fingers in rhythm along the lace embroidered table cloth, took a sip of water, and checked her watch again. It was still five minutes until one.

She was suddenly very, very tempted to bang her head against the table.

She had been waiting here for almost half an hour, her stomach growling and the polite refusals to have the bread brought increasingly hard. Father was usually on time for his appointments too, one might even say obsessively so, and to have him run this late could only be viewed as a personal slight.

_I'm a Barbie girl! In a Barbie wooorrrlllld…_

Hinata, mortified (she was going to _kill_ Ino. She had warned that woman not to mess with her ringtones!) grabbed her phone and killed the music as quickly as she could. "Hello?" She asked, a little breathless with embarrassment.

"Hinata," Father acknowledged, "My meeting with the mayor ran over. I'm afraid I have to cancel our lunch. I apologize that I wasn't able to inform you earlier."

"That's… fine," Hinata spluttered, color in her cheeks as her temper rose. As if he couldn't have told her before now! "I understand. Maybe another time."

"I would enjoy that," Father said. "I have to go, I will speak with you later."

"Sure. Of course. Talk to you later."

"Um, Ma'am, wou—would you like me to bring your bread…?"

"Yes," Hinata said to the waiter, standing a careful distance away from her table, her voice barely controlled. "The bread would be lovely, thank you. Very much."

"Sure," the waiter, identified by his nametag as Mark, said. "Are you ready to order?"

"No," Hinata admitted. "I was waiting—I'll be ready in a few minutes. Sorry."

"No problem," the guy flashed a set of pearly whites, and Hinata noticed that he was handsome in a vague, generic way. Perhaps if he hadn't been trying to make himself into Justin Beiber's clone he would have been more interesting.

As soon as the waiter was out of sight, Hinata sighed and pressed the heels of her hand into her eyes and groaned. After weeks of not speaking, she had finally tried to contact her father, and now, naturally, he had cancelled _past_ the last minute. To her shame, she felt her throat getting tight with sobs.

_I'm being ridiculous_, Hinata reminded herself, taking deep, controlled breaths and sitting up straight in the booth, smoothing her skirt. _Absolutely ridiculous. I need to be strong, I need—I need—_

_I need chocolate._

"Well hello, Stranger," said a very familiar voice behind her, and big hands covered her eyes. She couldn't help the smile that came to her lips, and she laughed.

"Kiba."

"Good guess," Kiba said, scooting into the chair across from her with a grin. He, for once, didn't smell of dog. Kiba ran a dog rescue clinic, and also trained dogs for the blind. He almost always had his own mutt trailing after him no matter where he went, and Hinata was secretly glad that they had made the giant Akamaru stay out this time. Kiba usually got away with a lot by following the motto: "Better to ask forgiveness than permission".

"So!" Kiba said, sprawling in his chair with a grin. "How ya been, Gorgeous?"

"I've been good," Hinata said. "I finished that job for that jerk Mister Maier."

"The one you did in the Rosie the Riveter theme? You're lucky the wife liked that one so much!"

Hinata threw her head back and laughed, and when she stopped Kiba was watching her with that look in his eyes that said he was going to make things awkward again. Flirt, reach for her hand, stare at her, whatever he did, it always made things terribly uncomfortable for her. She had been friends with Kiba since they were kids, she loved him, but her feelings didn't venture anywhere near the romantic zone.

She cleared her throat, and leaned back slightly, smiling gratefully at the waiter as he brought out the bread. He eyed Kiba with obvious disappointment, and her rugged friend grinned with a supremely confident air. Hinata rolled her eyes.

"Are we ready to order?" the waiter asked.

"Mark!" Called yet another familiar voice, and Hinata blushed. Naruto. "Mark! Buddy! Is that you?"

Mark shook Naruto's hand, and from the look of fake surprise on Naruto's face when he caught sight of Hinata, she got the feeling the meeting may have been contrived. Outside of the job, where he had apparently no problem with casual flirting while she worked, they had spoken a few times on the phone. With the job winding to a close, their date was drawing ever nearer.

Which Hinata could _not_ conceive as a bad thing. The more she got to know Naruto, on the few occasions they saw each other, the more she liked him.

"M—mister Uzumaki," Mark stuttered. "So nice to you again, Sir. What can I do for you?"

"Can I have a Coke?" Naruto asked. "Hinata! How are you?" He wrapped an arm around her shoulder in a hug, and before she knew it he had squeezed into the bench seat of the booth next to her and was shaking Kiba's hand with an ease that forced Kiba into politeness.

"I'm fine," Hinata said, a little shell-shocked from going to a miserable, lonely lunch to a small, testosterone-fueled party of male posturing. "Naruto, Kiba. Kiba, Naruto."

"Um," Mark mumbled, fidgeting. "Will there be any others joining you?"

"No," Hinata said firmly, before Naruto could invite his scary friend or Kiba could make a plea for Akamaru. "Thanks. I think I'm ready to order. And ready for the bread."

"Of course, of course," Mark said, eyeing Naruto carefully as he snagged the menu and flipped through it. Hinata wondered what Naruto could have done to Mark to make the other man so nervous. It didn't seem like fear, exactly, more like an extremely healthy respect—Hinata bet if Naruto asked him to, Mark would dress in drag and start singing "I'm a Nut."

"I'll have the Chicken Madeira," Hinata said.

"Can I share?" Kiba asked. "I _know_ you can't eat it all."

"I was just about to offer."

"Awesome. I'm sharing with her."

"And I'll have the bacon cheeseburger thing," Naruto said, handing back the menu with a grin. "And, hey, Mark? Calm down."

"Sure," Mark said, his muscles relaxing immediately. "I'll be right back with your drinks and the bread."

Hinata frowned, watching him go. He had been so very, very nervous before, and now he looked like he'd had a ten hour session with a masseuse.

"Why you here alone?" Naruto asked, shifting slightly to block Mark out of her sight. He smiled, like he had no idea he had done it, and Hinata smiled back. Maybe she was just being paranoid. "Do you often come to expensive restaurants to eat alone?"

"I was waiting for my father," Hinata explained stiffly. "He had to cancel."

Kiba muttered several expletives under his breath, most of which made reference to her father's heritage or his manhood. "You mean you set up this big apology 'Let's be friends again' gig and he didn't even bother to _show up?_"

"He was with the mayor," Hinata said, warning him with her tone that this was not a subject she wanted to discuss. "I'm letting it slide."

"You shouldn't! The man is a total-"

"_Kiba_," Hinata warned. "Drop it."

Naruto was looking back and forth between them, brow furrowed. He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and said: "Right, so… How 'bout them Lakers?"

Hinata smiled gratefully at the change of subject, and settled into safer territory.

oOo

Author's Notes: I do not own _Star Wars_ either, in case there was any doubt on the matter. Also, I would really, really appreciate it if you would be so kind to review. I'm kind of a glutton. :)


	9. Messages

I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: A huge thank you to everyone who reviewed! I know this chapter is not as long as it should be, but work is progressing very quickly on another chapter. If I get it done, I'll post that one later today. :) Enjoy.

oOo

_I make it a policy to try never to make a complete idiot of myself twice in the same way. After all, there's always all kinds of new ways to make a complete idiot of myself. Why repeat the old ones?"_ - Margot Dalton

oOo

_Early February._

_Beep._

"Hey, it's me. Naruto. Yeah. Um… so I was just wondering when I can pick you up for dinner? Unless you're a meet-there-to-avoid-date-rape type. Not that this would be a date rape or anything! I'm just saying-"

_Beep._

"Anyway, sorry about how long these messages are. I guess I'm rambling because I'm nervous. Which is weird, because I'm usually not nervous, and I'm really not so much of a geek all the time, really, and I just wanted t—?"

_Beep._

"Right. Sorry. Point is, picking you up or meeting you there? Your choice. Call me back when you know, alright? I mean, I know we've been out to lunch together already, but that sm—I mean, um, your friend was there and, wow, could you just del-"

_Beep._

"Delete that last one? Except for the first part, of course, because that part was pretty important. Anyway, um, I kind of just figured dinner and movie, right? If that's okay. If it's not okay then we'll… go… ice-skating…? Or something. Okay. Bye."

_Beep._

"Yeah, I completely forgot to tell you where we're going in case you want to meet so you can plan, because you seem like the planning type, which isn't a _bad_ thing at all and—um, we're going to Lorenzo's. In case you wanna go somewhere-"

_Beep._

"—else. It's Italian, so if you don't like that, tell me. Okay. Let me know. Sorry about all the messages. I'll just shut up now. Yeah. Okay. Bye!"

"_End of messages._"

Hinata blinked, staring at the slowly blinking red light, and then laughed until her sides hurt.

oOo

Author's Notes: Even with the realization of it's pitiful shortness, I would still greatly appreciate whatever tidbits of feedback you would like to offer.


	10. Girl Time

I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: Gosh I'm a loser.

Sorry I didn't get this posted sooner! I had a random Attack of the Virus and now have canker sores parading through my mouth and down my throat. So, updates may be a little slower this week as I A) Recover, and B) Beat this story into submission with a stick. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Please enjoy.

oOo

_"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."_ - Ralph Waldo Emerson

oOo

_Early February_

"I am not sorry," Ino said firmly, trailing her finger around the rim of her coffee cup. "Not at all. That ringtone is perfect for him!"

"No, it's not," Hinata said. "_Imperial March_ is perfect for him; _Two Steps from Hell _is perfect for him. Barbie Girl is not an acceptable choice."

"But it's a _funny_ choice."

"Sakura," Hinata begged her friend, who was sitting quietly across from them in the plastic seat the mall food court provided, grinning. "Help me out here."

Sakura paused, thinking about it, and then shrugged helplessly. "It is a _little_ funny."

"Back only a week and already you two are double-teaming me." Hinata sighed theatrically. "You're so cruel."

"But we're hot," Ino said. "And that's got to count for something."

Hinata turned a little red, about to retort with something incredibly witty, but Sakura cut her off quickly. No one wanted a repeat of The Great Hinata Blow-up of '02.

"How's Holly?" Sakura asked.

Ino frowned. "She stayed with her father while I was gone."

Hinata bit the inside of her cheek, all signs of Blow-up disappearing. Holly was Ino's seven-year-old daughter, and Ino had refused for years to allow the father to interfere in their lives at all. Ino had dated the guy in high school, and had given birth to Holly when she was seventeen.

"Oh, really?" Hinata asked. "I thought you didn't… speak to him."

"I didn't," Ino said, staring only at the table now. "He initiated contact, said he and his wife wanted to get to know his daughter."

"He's _married,_" Hinata gasped in surprise. "Oh, Ino…"

She waved her glossy pink nails, shoving away the sympathy. "Don't. She really enjoyed herself. A lot. They're alike, Shika and her. Anyway, Holly is great! She's dying to see Auntie Hinata again, of course."

"A steady feed of chocolate can do wonders for a reputation," Hinata agreed, letting the subject slide. If Ino wanted to talk about it, she would, and if she didn't…

Well, she _wouldn't_. Ever. Probably even under the cruelest torture methods ever discovered. Ino was like that.

"That's why I love you!" Sakura cheered, trying to steer the mood away from dangerous territory. Ino was pouting, glaring at her coffee. "Come on, Ino's Atmosphere of Despair over there is bringing me down. Let's go perk her up," she dragged Ino from her chair, ignoring the other woman's squawking. "By shopping. You _need_ new clothes for your date, Hinata. Like, really bad."

Shopping. It was a magic word for Ino, and suddenly Hinata was being dragged by two sets of over-enthusiastic hands through the mall, straight to some little boutique. Hinata felt distantly bad for the workers in there. If it was the first store in the Shopping Plan of Attack that Ino and Sakura had already figured out, they were in for a long couple of hours.

The hours were _very_ long. (Though when she looked back, she had really only had to endure two hours, two hours less than what it felt like.) Hinata hated shopping for herself, preferring to do it for others, and having to stand around being a dress-up doll for a bickering Ino and Sakura was not her ideal afternoon.

But it made the other two so happy, that Hinata just couldn't refuse them.

"The blue," Ino and Sakura said at the same time, as Hinata emerged from the dressing room for what felt like the six-hundredth time. (Although, to be fair, according to her count she had only been in and out about eighty-six.) "It's perfect!"

"The neckline is high enough to be modest-"

"But low enough to be sexy."

"And those bell sleeves!"

"And the skirt's not _quite_ a mini. Do you have a long coat and tights? We wouldn't want you to freeze to death."

"You'll have to wear boots of course… Oh! But the best part, by far, is the shimmers and the bead work…"

"It's perfect," Ino and Sakura finished, while Hinata busied herself with tugging at the hem. She loved the dress, more than any of the others so far. Tiny silver beads were peppered over the bodice and down one arm in a spiral of flowers, and subtle silver threads had been worked into the dark blue cloth to lend just an extra bit of shine. Ino and Sakura were smiling like the cat in the cream, patting themselves on the back for being absolute geniuses.

"I love it," Hinata assured them, locking herself in the dressing room again to shimmy out of her dress and put on her much warmer jeans and sweater. "You guys are wonderful!"

"Thanks!" Sakura called back. "Now just jewelry and shoes and we'll be done!"

Hinata barely stifled her groan. _They won't purposely drive me crazy; at least I have that hope. They would never force me into one of those "hideous white jackets with the buckles"._ She smiled. _That's them, unwilling to do anything illegal because the orange prison uniforms would clash with their hair._

They moved on to jewelry at Hinata's insistence that she already had the perfect boots. The girls complained until they remembered that, hey, she did, because they had bought her those silver boots (stuffed into the back of her closet with all of the other "fun" purchases they had made for her. Hinata didn't consider leopard print short skirts "fun") and acquiesced to also do a little shopping for themselves, an easily won argument.

"You guys can't spend all your time on me, do a little shopping for you."

"We're fine, this is all about you!"

"Really, it's okay."

"Well, if you insist…"

By the time Ino had really started to get into the purses, Sakura was checking over her shoulder every few minutes. She did so subtly, sometimes it seemed like she was just looking at another rack, but Hinata felt the prickles along the back of her neck that meant they were being watched.

Finally, Sakura gave up pretense. "Okay, do either of you know tall, dark, and stalk-y over there?"

Hinata looked, and to her surprise saw Sasuke browsing through a rack of ties. "That's Sasuke. Naruto's friend."

"Well he's been there every time I've turned around for the last half hour, and you can only look at so many ties," Sakura growled. "Stay here."

"Sakura, don't-" Hinata begged, but was cut off as her friend stomped over and tapped him on the shoulder. "…do that…"

Sasuke turned to her, one eyebrow raised, and Hinata could visibly see Sakura rock back on her heels at the man's near-perfect features. She steeled herself in a matter of seconds though, and Hinata just closed her eyes as she proceeded to interrogate him so quietly Hinata couldn't hear them. Ino caught the sight, and laughed.

"Just love it," she told Hinata. "You know Sakura, she's…"

"Protective," Hinata finished with a sigh. "I know, usually it's great that she can drop kick a two-hundred and fifty pound man several feet, but Sasuke is actually quite nice."

"Single?" Ino asked hopefully.

"Yes, but I think he eats nails and small children for breakfast every morning."

"…Ah. So, that would be a "no" then…?"

"That would be a disclaimer. Like the kinds they have at the zoo telling you not to put your fingers in the lion cage."

"That bad?"

"He's a good person," Hinata hastened to reassure her. "He's just… cold."

"Some like it cold."

"Eww."

Ino laughed, snatching the bag with the dress in it from Hinata's hand to check a piece of jewelry against it. She sniffed in contempt, and put it back.

Hinata was watching Sakura and Sasuke, worried that her friend was in over her head, but they seemed amiable enough, and Sakura was actually smiling a little. They finished their conversation with a nice (if overly ominous to Hinata) handshake, and then Sakura wandered back over with a grin.

"That," she announced. "Is one fine piece of eye-candy."

"What'd you say?"

"I asked him if we could help him, 'cause I noticed he was looking a little lost."

Hinata winced. In the few times she had worked with Sasuke, she had figured out that his pride was probably the most important thing to him. Having someone tell him he looked lost was probably grounds for tying a person down across two lanes during rush hour.

"He said he wasn't of course, and I said, 'Oh, so you're just following us around?' And he said, 'Yes, I am.' And I was like, okay… creepy person, but then he smiled-"

"He _smiled?_"

"Well, smirked, and was like, 'Just kidding, a friend is having a birthday soon, I'm shopping for them.' And I asked if we could do anything to help, and he said, no, but if we could please stop following him around that would be great."

Ah. Yeah, that sounded more like Sasuke.

Ino laughed in surprise, and even Sakura was grinning. "I told him I thought he was the stalker, and we mutually decided it was a coincidence, shook hands, and all is well."

Hinata breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come on!" Ino ordered, dragging the girls away. "If we're going to have time to do nails, _and_ buy the best ice-cream known to man, we need to move!"

_Ice-cream_! Hinata thought desperately. _Food!_ "Sounds good," Hinata said, and now _she_ was dragging _them._ "Let's go!"

oOo

Author's Notes: Kind of a weak ending, I know, but I hope it was enjoyable. Please review!

Next Chapter: THE DATE.


	11. Dating and Other Mishaps

I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: Finally! The Date has come. I hope you enjoy it, and if you do not you will get coal for Christmas. I have mad powers when it comes to influencing Santa Claus.

Sorry if parts don't make sense. I have strep throat and am hopped up on enough drugs to kill an emu.

Also, huge thanks to all who reviewed!

oOo

"_Attraction is not a choice_." -David DeAngelo

oOo

The restaurant was a small, private affair that took up a little corner at the crossing of Winchester and Norman, with dim lights and ambrosial smells. There were garlands wrapped around the wooden beams, swaying occasionally when the wind whipped through the door with another arrival.

Naruto and Hinata had been led to a table near the back, where the wind was less likely to blow them over, and candles had been lit. Hinata was staring very hard at the menu, half of it was in Italian, and so it needed her full concentration. Also, she was trying to escape Naruto's eyes, which had been darting appreciative glances her way ever since he had managed to put his eyes back in his head when she had taken her coat off.

Hinata rather thought the attention was going to her head. She felt light, and a smile was constantly near.

"Well," she said, peeking over the top of her menu. "What are you going to have?"

"Hmm…" Naruto said slowly. "The third one from the top. It's a French name, and I _cannot_ speak French. Too many Z's, and… other letters that are just completely un-American."

"I think that's kind of the point," Hinata said, trying to find something on the menu that wasn't Italian. Ah. He was looking at the wines. "I meant, what are you going to eat?"

"Oh," his brow furrowed, lips puckering, and Hinata had to hide behind her menu again for a moment. It was a cute expression—too cute for her poor heart. "Let's see… appetizer could be the… what the heck is calamari?"

"Squid."

He shuddered. "No. Way."

"In some countries," Hinata said, flipping through her menu. "They bolt a live monkey into the table, cut off the top of its skull, and then the brain is eaten raw." She smiled at his look of curious disgust. It was a little strange for her, saying such things at a dinner table, but Naruto was obviously enjoying it. "It's a delicacy."

"That's so gross," Naruto said in wonder. "_Eww._ Where do you get this stuff?"

"The same place I get that they bolt a snake to the table, one that gives live birth, and rip opens its guts to eat the still wriggling babies," Hinata said.

Naruto shivered in disgust, grinning. "Aw man, that is _nasty._ You know there's a place that puts scorpions into candy? You lick away the sucker until you get to the bug and—chomp! You eat it up."

"Ugh," Hinata said. "Don't think I'm brave enough for that one."

"Aren't you glad we chose Italian?"

"Very."

There was quiet for a moment, both of them staring at their menus again.

"So… what do you like to do in your spare time?" Naruto asked.

"Read mostly," Hinata said. "Sketch. Clean."

"Clean?" Naruto repeated. "Okay, first time I've heard that one."

"I find it relaxing, after it's done, and I hate just sitting around when I could be doing something."

"You play sports a lot when you were little then? Active and all…"

"My coordination was lacking," Hinata admitted, smiling as the waiter came to take their drink orders. Naruto ordered some expensive wine, and Hinata requested some water as well. He disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, and Hinata continued. "I like to run though, and hike, and rock-climbing is okay. Catching a ball though…" she sighed. "Can anyone say fat lip?"

Naruto chortled appreciatively. "Oh yeah! I fought a lot when I was younger. I think I came home from school with a black eye or bruise every day."

"Why?" Hinata gasped. She had grown up where hitting was never tolerated, she had never even had the opportunity to throw a punch. "Bullies…?"

"Partly. Mostly, it was because I picked fights. I wasn't exactly the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree when I was a kid if you catch my drift." He rolled his eyes in mock disparity. "Jiraiya was paid back three times over raising me."

"You call your father by his first name?"

"Guardian."

"…Oh."

Naruto was reticent for a moment, eyes staring off into space while Hinata fiddled with her napkin. She felt awful for bringing up such a sensitive issue. It wasn't like she could have known of course, but she should have taken the hint of him calling this Jiraiya character by his first name…

"Here are your drinks," the waiter said, smoothly offering Naruto a sample of wine, approved, and pouring two glasses of sparkling purple liquid. Bread was brought as well, with the oil and flavoring so popular at these places. The bread crackled and steamed. "Are you ready to order?"

"What do you think?" Naruto asked. "After our horror stories, do you think we can brave the calamari?"

"I'm up to it if you are," Hinata agreed, and Naruto grinned.

"I'm up for a lot of things."

_He did _not_ just say that._

"Right," the waiter said, blinking at the red spotlight that had become Hinata's face. "The calamari it is then. And for your entrée?"

"I think we need a few more minutes."

"Of course."

"Hinata," Naruto asked gently. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Hinata squeaked. "Totally fine."

He laughed, taking a swig of wine. "Okay."

More silence while Hinata got herself under control, and Naruto fidgeted a little.

Hinata racked her brain for something to say, but came up blank. The atmosphere in the restaurant was soft, and made her sleepy…

Naruto slammed a fifty down on the table and jumped out of his seat. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Hinata blinked, avoiding the stares of the other patrons. "But—but won't it be annoying for them…?"

"They'll get over it," Naruto said, a little impatiently. He held out a hand. "Come on, we'll be adventurous."

Hinata had never simply _left_ a restaurant before, no matter how horrible the service or how crappy the food. It simply wasn't _done._

Naruto waited, letting her decide.

_Rules were made to be broken, stomped on, and buried in the dirt_, Hinata reminded herself. She took his hand, and his smile made it all worth it.

oOo

Hinata crept quietly along between the big, fake rocks of the course, keeping her gun up and her eyes moving. Naruto had already tagged her once, and she wasn't planning on letting him do it again.

It was a little awkward, moving in the short dress and heeled boot, the laser tag vest restricting her movements, but she was managing better than Naruto. She hadn't really noticed before what Naruto had been wearing, too distracted by his face, but his clothes were a dead giveaway. He had been dressed in a suit, the jacket removed and his white shirt sleeves rolled up to expose his forearms, with an orange tie.

The orange tie was killing him, glowing in the dim lights like a beacon. She followed it stealthily.

They had attacked each other not five minutes ago, and for the past three Hinata had been following him stealthily. He had just disappeared around the corner ahead, probably trying to ambush her in the place she was _supposed _to be.

She snickered quietly. _I am sneaky_, she thought, peeking around the corner to see him pressed into the faux rock. _Like a ninja._

Naruto was cautiously peeking around the corner, keeping an eye out for her, his gun held close to his chest and at the ready. He looked like a professional, the position easily familiar, his finger not even twitching over the trigger of the gun. If Hinata hadn't known him, she would have said he looked a little frightening. A little _too_ easy, a little _too_ calm, a little _too_ familiar with the careful game of hide-and-seek they were playing.

She stepped forward, a breeze from the air conditioner stirring her hair, brought her gun up, and aimed carefully at his chest. One more good shot, and she would win.

Naruto whirled, gun coming up, and Hinata pulled the trigger.

_Zsst, zsst, zsst_! Went her gun, and Naruto was dead.

Again.

Hinata grinned at him, triumphant, and Naruto pouted.

"How did you get over there?" He demanded. "I didn't even hear you move! And—and your boot is over…"

Hinata hobbled over, reclaiming her boot from behind the rock Naruto had been watching, and pulling it back on. "Distraction is key, and noise is bad. I had to learn _something_ from watching all those James Bond movies."

Naruto shook his head in wonder. "You are _good._"

"Mostly beginner's luck, I'm sure."

"Crossed with leprechaun gold, the devil, and a good dose of Harry Potter," Naruto shot back. "That is _skill_."

Hinata rolled her eyes playfully. "Sure… You almost had me though! You turned around so fast earlier you were practically a blur."

"Just call me The Flash. You can be my side-kick, Sneaky."

"If I had a name like Sneaky, I'd prefer to just be a normal human being I think."

"Yeah," Naruto chuckled awkwardly. "Something like that. Ahem. So, one more round?"

"Sounds good," Hinata said. "Then maybe dinner?"

Their stomachs growled in unison.

Naruto laughed. "Okay, maybe we should just eat now."

They left the arena, hanging up their guns, glasses, and vests on the hooks outside. The floor was sticky with split soda and other un-nameable bits of product scattered around on the industrial red and yellow zig-zag carpet.

"So, what should we eat?" Naruto asked. "Here, or somewhere else?"

"What do they have here?"

"I'm sure they'll claim it's something organic. Which might be true. I've heard dog intestines and penguin poop are very organic."

"Very organic-y," Hinata agreed solemnly, but her eyes sparkled. "How about we just drive around and see what we can find?"

"Do you suppose we should go back to Lorenzo's?" Naruto sighed with fake longing. "I'm sure they've managed to get the calamari out by now."

"But just think, Naruto, we would be depriving someone else of their cheerful atmosphere."

"That would be very cruel of us."

"Very."

"Alright then. We'll drive around, see what we can find!" Naruto announced, grabbing her hand to go to the parking lot.

There was a shock, a very pleasant kind of shock, as soon as his hand wrapped around hers. It was like electricity had raced up her arm at the contact, leaving it tingling, before it spiraled down into her stomach and flooded through the rest of her. Even her _toes_ tingled.

Hinata squeaked.

"Oh," Naruto said numbly. They dropped their hands. "Um… static?"

"Sounds good to me," Hinata said, echoing his earlier words. She didn't want to admit that just holding his hand had lead to a whole string of images that involved a _lot_ more than hand holding.

"A-heh. Right. Um, car. We should go to the car now."

"Uh-huh."

They got in the car, carefully arranging themselves so that the tingles didn't return, both a little shocked at the strength of their reaction. It was too soon, surely it was too soon, and well…

Hinata wasn't entirely sure how comfortable she was with all that. She had never been particularly touchy-feely, especially with men, so all of…_ this_ was very new territory for her.

_But why didn't it happen earlier?_ Hinata thought, as Naruto pulled in through some drive through and she ordered mechanically. Her mind was racing, trying to break down the situation into controllable instances. _Electricity? It sounds like a bad romance novel or something. Not bad, per say, but not—not ready. It was probably just all the excitement, our blood pumping, maybe some static, it doesn't matter. We'll just take it slow, it'll be fine._

Satisfied that she had reached a positive solution, Hinata smiled at a still blank Naruto, his hands tight around the steering wheel of his (what looked like a very expensive, very nice model, not that Hinata could tell the difference) car. His bag of Arby's resting in between the seats was untouched.

"Everything okay?" Hinata asked.

Naruto blinked like he had just woken up. "Huh! Oh yeah. Everything's cool. I had fun."

"So did I," Hinata assured him. "A lot of fun. Thank you, I never would have thought of leaving the restaurant and going to laser tag."

Naruto grinned, relaxing even more. "I can't help it, I love laser tag. I know it's not exactly for adults but…"

"Being adults is boring."

Naruto gave a surprised laugh. "Exactly!"

Hinata's fingers twisted over themselves in her lap, a tight knot. She wasn't exactly sure where they were going, just driving, but she didn't mind. She didn't want all of this to be over yet.

"So… What now?" Naruto asked, at the same moment Hinata blurted. "Where are we going?"

They laughed again, and some of Hinata's earlier giddiness returned. The smile wouldn't leave her face again, and Naruto's was similarly frozen.

"We aren't going anywhere," Naruto admitted, confirming what Hinata had said. "I'm just killing the planet I guess."

Hinata rolled her eyes. "If the planet had died as many times as they have tried to make me believe, the dinosaurs would never have even been born."

"Probably. What's your favorite color?"

"Question game?"

"Yup."

"I don't have one. I love them all. I'll bet I can guess yours!"

"Orange!" they both said. Hinata laughed again, realizing she was probably laughing more tonight than she had in a month.

"So what-" Hinata began, cut off by a piercing ring so loud she pressed her hand to his ears in desperation to block it out. It made the car buzz with the force. High-pitched, unending, the pressure on her ears making her head ache, and still the ringing sound went on.

Naruto swore, stomping on the brake right before a green light and ripping out his phone in one discombobulated motion. There were honks behind them.

"_What?_" Naruto hissed into the phone. The ringing stopped, finally, and Hinata tentatively felt at her ears to make sure they were still intact after the noise. They were.

There was a long moment of silence as the person on the other end jabbered, Naruto let off the brake and rolled forward to the now red light, ignoring the honks from behind him.

"No," he said, jaw tight. "No, yes, no. You do it. No!"

His right hand was clenched so hard around the steering wheel his knuckles were white and Hinata, ever so tentatively, a little scared it might cause another jolt, laid her own hand on it. There was something, but not as bad as when they were leaving laser tag. She smiled at him a little, patting his hand.

Naruto sighed slowly, his hand relaxing. "Yes," he said grudgingly to the person on the phone. "I know. I _know._ Don't push it. Twenty minutes."

"Sorry," Naruto said, turning left as the light went green. "Something's wrong at the office. I have to go."

"It's okay," Hinata said, withdrawing her hand, pleased that everything was alright. From the way he had been talking, she was afraid something horrible had happened. "Are you alright?"

"I…" Naruto hesitated. "That scared the crap out of me."

"Me too! Why was it so loud?"

"Stupid Sasuke, and his stupid speaker systems. I'm going to kill him!"

"Come on," Hinata wheedled, her chest tight at his upset face. "Cheer up. Let's not end the night on a sour note."

"You're right," Naruto said. "Sorry."

"Me too. Now, what is your favorite food?"

The drive to Hinata's apartment was filled with casual small talk and, near the end, laughter. By the time they arrived, Hinata didn't want to leave the car.

"I'll walk you in," Naruto offered, parking in front of the building.

"That's all right," Hinata assured him. "You'll need to hurry to your meeting, won't you? It's only twenty feet."

"Twenty feet is nineteen feet and eleven inches too many."

"If I can kick your butt at laser tag, I can probably make it the twenty feet to the front door."

"Alright," Naruto agreed, grudgingly. "I'll just make sure you get in."

"Thanks."

She paused, hand on the door, preparing herself for the cold and reminding herself why leaving was a good idea. The cold air hit her like a wall as soon as the door was open, and Hinata shivered. "I—I'll see you later."

"Wait a second?"

Every muscle in her body was frozen anyway, so that wasn't hard.

Naruto leaned forward, a little nervous, and Hinata nodded a little in permission, her breath coming fast. He kissed her, quickly, barely a peck, but a peck was enough to make the jolt come back again with twice the force of before. Hinata gasped in time with Naruto, and pulled back with her head dizzy.

"Bye," he agreed, swallowing hard.

Hinata nodded, jumped out of the car, and raced up to the building. She waited until his tail-lights had disappeared around the corner to get in the elevator, collapse against the wall, and smile until her face felt like it would split in two.

oOo

Author's Notes: Haha! It was long. Er. :)

Please tell me what you think!

Next chapter: Naruto takes care of that oh-so-mysterious phone call...


	12. The Subject of Phone Calls

I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: You know those times when you look at your computer and say: 'Man, all those people have been really nice about reading and junk, I should post a chapter' and then you get on and find a really awesome story and don't update? Yeah, that's what happened.

On the upside, I'm updating _now_. And it's only been a week and...

Ahem.

These scenes take place directly after the date, and are the subject of The Phone Call from last chapter. Enjoy!

Anyway, warning for graphic descriptions of injuries. Just in case that stuff bothers you.

oOo

_"Well... that's a lame way to kill someone."_ -Tidus

oOo

Naruto stomped through the doors of the hospital, ignoring the unit clerk squalling at him from the desk as he broke into the white linoleum and controlled urgency of Surgery. He followed that sense of _:other:_ until he barged into the fifth room on the left, knocking the door off its hinges by the force of his shove.

As soon as the door was open, the smell hit him like a speeding train, and he almost gagged. Sweat, blood, vomit- those smells he could stand, but the smell of medicine was heavy in the air—thick, cloying, sour, burning his nose every breath. But under that, even worse, was that decaying smell, that poisonous smell, the smell of death and fear as the soul left the body. Vile.

There was a doctor in the room, a black, balding man with thick glasses and rubber gloves, a needle in hand, bending over Sasuke's all-too-still form. There were others in the room, less consequential, barking orders and passing bandages and—Naruto shuddered—_needles._

The doctor jerked back as Naruto entered, shocked, and Naruto didn't waste any time wondering what he must look like to the doctor—masked, too quick for eyes to follow, and his eyes flashing red. He moved, grabbing Sasuke and slinging the man over his shoulders before the needle hit the ground, bolting out the front doors of the hospital as the plastic bounced and sprayed clear fluid all over the floor. Naruto could hear it, just barely, over the startled screams as he peeled through the parking lot and to his car. He shoved the bleeding Sasuke into the front seat, buckled him in, and left the lot with a squeal of tires shedding rubber.

He ripped off his mask and cranked up the still-cold air, blowing it directly into Sasuke's face at full power. It was no wonder the other guy was passed out, having to smell…

Naruto directed the air his way too, trying to burn out the fetor clogging his brain. He pulled onto the I-278, cutting off a semi and almost ramming a Corvette. He jerked into the next lane with barely a glance, flooring the pedal until he reached a hundred—a hundred and ten, a hundred and twenty—and wove through traffic, pulling onto the shoulder to drive when the cars were too congested for his taste.

Sasuke was bleeding, heavily, the coppery smell filling the air and the drip of the blood loud even over the noise of the highway. His breath came in short, soft pants, and he was pale as overcooked ramen noodles. Naruto could see where the blood came from—a hole, roughly the size of a large man's fist, straight through Sasuke's stomach. He had multiple cuts and bruises everywhere, and his right leg was cracked out in a strange direction. His fingers, too, on his left hand, were twisted into purplish pretzels.

He cut a sharp right, ignoring the honks, when he saw the exit for downtown Manhattan.

Naruto pressed his cell phone to his ear as he got closer, muttering to himself. "'He's just at the hospital, he's fine, but we thought you should probably go get him.' Ha! _Fine._ Bleeding to death all over my leather. Gonna owe me a new car…"

The phone rang once, twice, three times, and then was finally picked up with a slurred, "Hewlloooo?"

"Get sober, now," Naruto snapped, making it an Order without a second thought. "Where are you?"

The woman on the other end swore at him as her buzz faded immediately and indefinitely. "Do you even realize how much it takes to get me drunk? That was a hundred dollars down the-"

"Sasuke's hurt, bad, and you're going to fix him. Tell me where you are."

oOo

Tsunade was at home, guzzling sake and giggling shrilly at re-runs of _I Love Lucy_—half of which she didn't entirely understand. The screen kept going wonky: tilting… and blurring… and— oh. Her cup was empty. Wait—no—that was the bottle.

She frowned down at the jug, peering in cautiously. Where had it all gone?

"_Lucy, I'm home!_" yelled Ricky on screen, and Tsunade let out another high-pitched stagger of laughs. Oh, Ricky. Funny Ricky…

She took another sip from her bottle, only to find it dry. She peered inside cautiously, confused again. Where had it all gone?

…and why did that feel like déjà vu?

A phone rang suddenly, cutting through her haze with cutting accuracy. At first, she thought it was from the TV, but, no, it was coming from somewhere else…

She laughed, reached into her shirt, and pulled out her phone from where it had been hiding. Silly phone. Phones didn't belong in _bras._

"Hewlllooo…" She said, flopping onto a pillow. Lucy was trying to hide something from Ricky now. That was funny too, and she almost laughed again…

Except that Naruto's Alpha Mode cut her off with a quick Order, impossible not to obey.

"Get sober, now. Where are you?"

The buzz was gone. The haze was gone. The world came into crisp focus, bright colors and sharp corners, and suddenly her hours of work to get decently sloshed were gone.

She swore. Loudly. Repeatedly. Specifically at Naruto, although she alluded to just above everyone he knew as well, occasionally mentioning their heritage and lack thereof.

"Sasuke's hurt," Naruto interrupted, and Tsunade caught the edge of panic in his tone. "Bad. Tell me where you are."

Another Order. Tsunade gritted her teeth in annoyance. What had she told him about using that power responsibly? She was going to kick his butt for this.

"My house," Tsuande snapped, and Naruto sighed in relief.

"Good. I'll be there in two minutes. Get everything-"

"You Order me again and I will make WWE look Disney approved."

Naruto sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was."

_Hell's _teeth!Tsunade thought furiously. "Is he that bad?"

"He's worse."

Tsunade hung up and hurried to clear a space on her kitchen table, shoving away the chairs and ripping off the tablecloth. She was _not_ wasting a tablecloth on Sasuke. The turd.

She could hear tires squeal outside as Naruto's car screeched to a halt on her driveway. If he had left tire-marks…

She opened the door and Naruto hurried inside, Sasuke held tight in his arms. Tsunade winced as blood got on her carpet.

"Lay him on the table," She ordered, and pushed Naruto aside for her assessment.

It was bad.

_Multiple lacerations,_ she noted, gray eyes flicking. _Broken left hand, right leg, all ribs, and left collarbone. Right shoulder dislocated and heavy bruising on all visible tissue. Internal bleeding. Head trauma located at base of skull, no swelling of brain tissue..._

All that wasn't as bad as it could have been, Sasuke's brain wasn't in too much danger at the moment, but the gaping hole in his stomach… that was a problem.

It looked like someone had punched their whole fist straight through his torso, and then followed it with a flaming torch. The cauterization had definitely come after, maybe Sasuke had even done it himself—that smart little _idiot_—and she could see all the way through it to the table. She gasped a little, sickened. It had to have gone through the worst possible place. If the wound had just been two inches lower—

But it wasn't. And now Sasuke's liver, kidneys, stomach, pancreas—even his stupid _adreanal gland—_was almost completely gone.

People didn't live long like that.

People didn't live like that _period_.

"Gods above," Tsunade whispered, and got to work.

oOo

Author's Notes: He does not get eaten by the eels at this time.

I'm only saying this because you look nervous.

No, Sasuke will probably live, and more Naruto-Hinata action is bound to crop up in the next chapter. Which I haven't written yet, but I'm working on!

Please review!


	13. Talk

I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: All I can say is this: Yes, it's short. Yes, I took a long time. But, just think! It could have been only a hundred words, and you could have waited a year for it. And I'm promising faster updates as soon as The Dreaded School ends. See? Not so bad.

oOo

_Siblings. That state of being wherein you can being fighting homicidal urges one second, and in the next be wondering if you should give them a hug._

oOo

"I want to know where Sasuke was, who he was with, who he talked to, _what did this to him_. Preliminary report in one hour. …Make it enough time. …You better get started then. Good man! Talk to you soon."

Naruto ended the call and hit the speed dial for the next name on his list, barely paying attention to the road as he weaved through traffic. "Nara? …Yeah. …I know it's early. Listen, I need to know the recent movements of all our—yes _our_—enemies. Where they've been, what they've been up to, if they've been in the NY recently. …Yeah. Call me when you've got something. …Yeah. …Thanks. …Good. Doing real good. …Alright, thanks. …Bye."

Naruto had to punch in the next number, and jazz music had him on hold for ten minutes before someone even answered the phone. He bounced in his seat with nerves and impatience. If Sasuke knew he was calling his brother… Finally, a woman's voice asked: "Hello?"

"Anko?"

"Ugh. Not you again."

"Me again. Can I talk to your boss?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because it's the middle of the night you-"

There was a scuffling noise, a beep, and then Itachi was on the line.

"Hello?" His voice was deep, scratchy from sleep.

"Hi, it's Naruto."

"Ah. What did he do?"

"Don't know yet! But… you might wanna come see him."

"…Does he want me to see him?"

"Would I call if he didn't?"

"Yes."

"You should come."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Great! I'll talk to you later then. Tell Anko she's a scary snake chick for me?"

"I'll do that. Thank you for calling."

"Yeah. We totally need to hangout sometime!"

"Hn."

"I'm taking that as a maybe."

"Hn."

"A definitely?"

_Beep._

Naruto frowned. Itachi had hung up on him. Not nice. Not nice at all.

But, the phone call had actually gone better than he had expected. Sasuke and Itachi had been on rocky terms ever since the "incident" and Naruto didn't want to rock the boat too much just yet. One Uchiha mad at him was bad enough, but two with a wish to use his head as a wall decoration? No. Way.

He pulled up to a red light and turned right, relaxing a little as _Ichiraku's_ neon sign glowed just ahead. Something good and hot to eat was exactly what he needed. He needed to slurp up ramen-y goodness and forget the way Sasuke's gray skin had glowed beneath Tsunade's healing hands as she tried to rebuild his organs. Forget his scratched and bruised face against the tabletop. His scream, when he had woken suddenly…

Naruto shook his head, and turned into the drive through. What he really wanted to do was call Hinata, but that would probably be just a little desperate if he called only six hours after their date, at three o' clock in the morning. Might even be taken as weird and rude. Yeah. He shouldn't do that.

But maybe whatever had attacked Sasuke had attacked her.

No, he was being stupid. He had watched her go into the building. Baki had called to tell him she had made it to her apartment and was safe inside. No reason to call.

He stared down at his phone, finger hovering over the buttons. Two little buttons and he could talk to her, make his mind go numb on her calming silence and smile at her little stutters. Two buttons, and all his worries would be gone…

His phone buzzed, and the screen lit up.

_Call from: Hinata Hyuuga._

Naruto sighed, smiling, and pushed Talk. She was so perfect.

oOo

Author's Notes: Which means, Sasuke's not going to die!

I'm sure that is very exciting for you all.

Thanks for reading, and please review!


	14. Yet More Talk

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: I have a final in a few hours, and should be studying.

That should let you know how important you all are. (And the extent to which I am willing to go to blame my procrastination on feelings of goodwill. :p)

oOo

_"Love is the breakdown of one's mind … it is the sudden rush that occurs in your heart that leads to unusual behavior and irrational actions. It also decreases your reaction time and lowers your pace in a certain amount of degree. If this happens to you, then you've fallen for it, you're in love." -Mark Aaron_

oOo

_This is so stupid_, Hinata thought, pressing her phone to her ear. _And desperate and crazy looking. What am I doing? He's probably already asleep anyway. I'm being an idiot. I'm being _such_ an idiot._

The phone rang once, twice, and then Naruto's voice filtered through with a cheerful, if tired, "Hi!"

"Hello," Hinata said, fisting her fingers in her coverlet. "Um… I just—I just…"

How was she supposed to tell him she just had a _feeling_ to call him? This wasn't Star Wars! She would sound like a spaz. He probably already thought she was deranged for calling for no reason in the middle of the night.

"I'm so glad you called," Naruto said, effectively cutting off her mounting panic. "I've been sitting here trying to talk myself out of calling you because you would think I was some kind of freak."

Hinata laughed. "I've been doing the same."

"Really? How weird! Awesomely weird of course, not just, you know, weird-weird and… so whatcha doin'?"

"Nothing," Hinata said, curling up under her covers. "How about you?"

"Getting food. Sasuke had a hole blown through his stomach-"

"A _what?_ What happened?"

"Small hole. Tiny hole. Barely there hole. He, um, got shot. Mugger, we think."

"Oh, no. How awful! Is he going to be okay?"

"Oh yeah, he'll be fine! He has a way of bouncing back. He'll be fine."

"Good," Hinata said hesitantly. He was reassuring himself, she could tell, by the unnecessary repetition. Sasuke was probably in really bad shape. "I'm so glad to hear that. At which hospital is he? I would like to visit him once-"

"Oh!" Naruto said. "I—um—hold on, I hafta order."

"Okay."

She waited patiently, feeling a little guilty that she had interrupted him right before he got his food. It was awkward to try to talk and eat at the same time. She yawned quietly, staring into the dark of her bedroom. Her dresser and nightstand were mere shadows in the half-light coming in through the window, and her shoes on the floor shone. Bright, sparkling, tiny boots with tiny buckles on the blue carpet…

"Hinata? You still there?"

Hinata jerked awake, blinking rapidly. "Yes, of course."

"Okay. So, what are still doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep," she said, shrugging. There was something important… something they had been talking about before… "Oh! Sasuke. Hospital. Sasuke? Which hospital?"

"Hmm…" there was a slurping sound as Naruto ate whatever he had gotten, Hinata was at a loss as to what that might be, before he spoke. "He's… not exactly at a hospital."

"But—but he was shot…"

"Home doctor. She has a surgery room and stuff and, um, she's taking care of him."

"Oh." Hinata had never heard of such a thing, but that certainly didn't mean they didn't exist. "Well, okay."

"Yeah, and he can't be visited for a while, but as soon as he can be I'll let you know! He's going to be fine. It's tiny, really, and we got to him in plenty of time! You could bring him like a giant teddy bear or something… that would annoy him! Ha. He'll be fine, you know, really soon."

"Of course," Hinata soothed. "He's Sasuke. He'll pull through in no time. Thanks for telling me."

"Oh. Sure, no problem."

"So," Hinata said, fiddling with a loose thread and stifling a yawn. "Um… sorry your night ended so badly."

"Yeah, well, it started out really great so…"

"Really? Good. Good."

"Yeah. Very good. Which reminds me, when are we going to get go out again?"

Hinata's heart jumped, and she blushed. He wanted to go out again. That was a good sign. "I—I'm free just about anytime. I mean, whenever you might wanna—"

"Great! So… next Friday?"

_A week,_ Hinata thought sadly, and laughed at herself. When had she ever, even in her admittedly limited experience, been so pathetic about a man? "Sounds good. Call me about Sasuke?"

"Of course!"

Hinata couldn't stifle her yawn this time, and Naruto chuckled. "You should get some sleep. I'll talk to you later?"

"Sure," Hinata slurred, head jerking in an attempt to stay upright. "Tomorrow…"

"Good night."

"'Nigh…"

She fell asleep, phone in her hand.

oOo

Author's Notes: Some of you may find this entire chapter unlikely, silly, and, most of all, unlikely. I have only one thing to say:

STOP RAINING ON MY PARADE!

I like it, and if you do to, I would appreciate it if you left a review. (That kinda rhymed!)

Oh, yes, and Naruto was mostly lying through his teeth. Just so you know, and there's no confusion.


	15. Answers

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: In celebration of finals being over, I am posting this rather pitiful tribute because it's basically the only thing I've had time to write. More (longer) stuff is sure to come soon.

oOo

_His men would follow him anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity. -Anonymous_

oOo

Naruto was smiling stupidly, an effect Hinata seemed to have on him often, as he stared out his windshield at the red light, ramen bowl in hand. She had called him, just to make sure he was alright, and he could practically hear the blush…

His phone rang, and he picked it up in a haze of Hinata-induced euphoria. "Hello…?"

"Boss?" Khalid asked slowly. "Is that you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Naruto said, taking the trill out of his voice and putting on his I'm In Charge face. "That was fast. What have you learned?"

"This wasn't an accident," Khalid reported, and Naruto could almost imagine Khalid's tufted ears wriggling in delight beneath his ridiculous fedora. Khalid loved conspiracies. "We have an old friend back in town, and Mr. Uchiha thought he could take care of it on his own. Personal vendetta type thing."

Naruto swore. "Orochimaru."

"You got it, Boss. He's sliming around the gunk of the city, claiming he's not breaking any of our laws."

"Not _our_ laws?"

"He's dabbling in some basic drug trafficking, but not humans. And… Mr. Uchiha _did_ attack first. Technically."

"Technically?"

"You know that guy can get under Mr. Uchiha's skin faster than you can. He's setting up a whole operation, maybe looking to go Top again, I don't know. He went alone, down to Flushing, and from there…"

"Yeah, I got it," Naruto said tightly. Orochimaru… a problem he definitely didn't need. "Alright then. If he isn't breaking Laws, we can't touch him, but keep a sharp eye out. I don't want to have any problems."

"Yes, Boss," Khalid said. "Anything else I can do for you?"

"Just keep doing what you do best."

"Yes, Sir!"

Naruto hung up, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles went white. Orochimaru.

_Time I'm done with you, Snake-face, you'll wish you were dead._

oOo

Author's Notes: Yay for Naruto's vindictive streak! Reviews make me happy!


	16. When Threatening Enemies

Disclaimer: I feel as if I should put something incredibly witty here, but I have nothing witty to say. So, no, Naruto is something I do not own.

Author's Notes: I just got done with three hours of shopping. My brain is dangerously near exploding. Neverhtless, I prevail! Here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy.

oOo

_Always forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. -Unknown_

oOo

Trash was overflowing onto the streets from overstuffed trashcans; rats that had been nibbling on rotten apple cores and old diapers scattering into hidey-holes, chittering in fear when he came too close. The pitted streets were waterlogged and stagnant, and the only decoration was graffiti sprayed on the sides of old brick and rusting metal buildings. Cardboard flapped in place of a broken window, and the few streetlights flickered haphazardly.

_This_, Naruto thought, _is not the best part of town._

Usually, he wouldn't step foot down here unless he got a request. It stank, and only the lowest of the low crawled thought the mud pits- the perfect place for a worm trying to hide.

"_Take a left at the next intersection."_

The instruction was relayed in his ear through the little flesh colored bit of technology he was wearing. Khalid was the one on the other end, helping him get to Orochimaru's too-obvious hideout. Supposedly, it was above ground, which broke the Snake's usual pattern. Naruto would have bet a million dollars that there was some kind of secret cave below the abandoned night-club he was being lead to.

Naruto took a left, skipping over a pothole teeming with insect life. Khalid spoke again, but Naruto no longer needed him. It was obvious where Orochimaru had set up shop.

It was a big building, made of old red brick and three stories tall. But the building stood out from the rest on the street, mostly because it was well-lit and clean. Soft light shone through the whole windows, the graffiti had either been scrubbed off or painted over, and the cracks in the sidewalk and the stoop had been repaired. Steel doors with a snake carved onto them were closed tight, and two men stood outside holding crowbars, the overhead light beaming down on them masking their faces. Their heavy breathing frosted in the frozen air.

Naruto paused, switched off his earpiece, and stood watching them for a moment. They were talking quietly, about how cold it was, about how much they disliked this job, about how much they wouldn't mind a warm bloody before bed tonight.

Nothing interesting, nothing helpful, and certainly nothing that couldn't be interrupted.

Naruto rearranged his face into a tight, frightening half-grin and strolled into the light, letting them see him.

One of them, wearing a spiked leather jacket, nudged his companion, nodding to Naruto. The other held up his crowbar threateningly. "Don't come any closer!"

"Why not?" Naruto asked, stepping closer, letting them see his face. He smiled as they paled. "I'm just here to talk to Orochimaru. That's all."

"Th—the boss-" stuttered the one with the jacket, and Naruto glared at him.

"There's only one boss in this town, and it's not that scum-eating worm in there."

_This is so fun_, Naruto thought, watching the two exchange puzzled, scared looks. _I've gotta do this more often. It's worth ruining a pair of shoes to see that face._

"Take me to him. Now," Naruto ordered.

They jumped, muttered at each other about how much trouble they were going to get in for this, if it was worth it, and Naruto released a tiny little spark of power to help them make up their minds.

They jumped again, and then almost fell over themselves wrenching the door open and calling for Master Kabuto.

Naruto took the time to stride up to the door and ease himself into the old club. The bar had been removed, anything disassembled except the square dance floor that was sunk in the middle of the huge room. The dance floor was crowded with tables and chairs, dimly lit, the muted conversation cutting off as soon as he entered. Their drinks reflected a dim red through their plastic cups, but he kept smiling, waiting patiently just inside the doors. It was the highest point in the room, and Tsunade had pounded repeatedly into his head how important little symbols of authority could be.

Someone went running off through a side door, and returned a minute later with a silver-haired man wearing glasses in tow. Naruto took the time to memorize the faces of the traitors around the room. Most of them shrank from his searching gaze.

"Master Uzumaki," Kabuto said, face lighting up. "How good of you to come pay us a visit. Please, please, come in. Master-"

Naruto's pleasant smile snapped from his face, and Kabuto's froze for an instant.

He laughed carefully, waving his hand. "Sorry, an old habit showing up again. This city brings back a lot of memoires. For many people."

Naruto refused to let the dig ruffle his composure, "Yeah, I heard Sasuke paid you a visit."

"He did," Kabuto murmured. "He did indeed. I'm afraid he was very antagonistic and violent. We did not, of course, break any Laws."

_Because saying, 'He started it!' just wouldn't sound as cool_. "Yes, well, I'd still like to talk to Orochimaru. I talk to all the people who… visit."

"An excellent policy," Kabuto gushed, leading him to the back of the club. Heads turned to watch him go, but he didn't acknowledge them. "Right through here."

Naruto walked down a dimly lit hallway and was let into a black-wood paneled office, a huge desk and a tall leather chair dominated the area, with only a single straight-backed, uncomfortable-looking chair in front of it. Naruto spun it around and straddled it, grinning at the pale-faced man smiling pleasantly back at him.

"Man, it's been a while," Naruto said. "I haven't seen you since I broke the mind-control spell you had on Sasuke and took my rightful place as Master of the city. Been a long while."

"It certainly has," Orochimaru agreed. "So good to see you again."

"Can't say the same. What are you doing here?"

"Oh," Orochimaru murmured, his slitted yellow eyes glittering. "It's a free country. …Last time I checked."

"More free than ever," Naruto corrected, trying not to grind his teeth. "I don't Order everyone."

"How wonderful!" Orochimaru cried, the long purple marks along his noses crinkling as his wide mouth broke into a beam. "Then you won't be Ordering us out of the city."

"You're free to be here," Naruto admitted. "But," his eyes narrowed, and he let his eyes burn, making sure the threat was clear. "You touch any of mine again—ever—and I will assume you are guilty."

"Clear," Orochimaru said, his smile barely wavering. "Thanks for coming to see us."

"Make sure I don't have to come back again."

oOo

Author's Notes: Am I the only one that thinks Naruto eats awesome for breakfast?

Well, for those of you who are at all confused, here's a recap of what we've learned:

1. Naruto is _not normal _and neither is anyone with whom he associates. 2. Hinata is clueless. 3. Naruto can give Orders that lets him control certain other weird people. 4. Naruto and Orochimaru are "Masters" (not like the kind on Buffy) and Naruto pwned snake face sometime in the past. 5. Their abilities so far seem to include giving orders, taking orders, healing quickly, mind-trapping evilness (from the evil people), and being rich. 6. There is no six, I just wanted to end everything on an even note.

So, that's what we have so far. All theories anyone has are welcome and... REVIEW.

BTW, what's the earpiece called? Couldn't remember for the life of me.


	17. Bring Your Whooping Stick

Disclaimer: It's funny how you can ask a question over and over, and still get the same answer...

Author's Notes: Merry Christmas!

oOo

_"Sometimes when I feel like killing someone, I do a little trick to calm myself down. I'll go over to the person's house and ring the doorbell. When the person comes to the door, I'm gone, but you know what I've left on the porch? A jack-o-lantern with a knife stuck in the side of its head with a note that says 'You.' After that I usually feel a lot better, and no harm done." -Jack Handy_

oOo

Sakura trundled into the wide driveway, parking behind a blue Mercedes, and glared up at the two story house in front of her. It oozed expense and luxury, from the ornate carving around the door to the still-shiny copper of the roof spikes. For a debt-ridden intern slaving away at the local hospital, it was like a hundred years worth of grocery bills being sat on the front lawn waiting to be hacked apart by a mower.

_Rich people_, she thought, green. _If I can't be one by myself, then I at least insist that they give me all that they own._

The thought made her smile.

"Alright, Hinata," she announced, shaking her friend's shoulder gently to get her attention. Hinata blinked, and turned her big baby blues on Sakura with a look of almost complete despair.

Sakura knew that look. It was her I'm-not-worthy look that she often had around her father—a look Hinata had only recently beaten.

_Oh, this is not going to fly._

"Now, Honey," Sakura said, a little bit of her home Georgian drawl leaking into her voice. She always fell back on the accent when she was angry or particularly excited. Or both. "That man-" she jabbed a finger at the house. "Is not worth _half_ of you. You are a successful, smart, beautiful, confident woman and I will _not_ have you trying to convince yourself you're of some _lower order_ because he has giant glass windows! I just won't have it. I have spent _years_ watching you build up your confidence enough to escape that tyrannical father of yours, and I will _not_ watch it come tumbling down for some blond man with a charming smile. Clear?"

Hinata laughed, nodding. "All right, all right, clear. No need to go rawr-feminist on me. Or break out The Dreaded Drawl."

"Sorry," Sakura said, abashed. "The, um, temper thing? I'm working on that. I promise. I've found this great technique for conquering it actually. Everytime I want to kill someone I go out and buy a pumpkin, stick a knife in its head, and attach a note that says 'you' to it and then play ding-dong ditch. It works wonders."

"These are the reasons I worry you're going to end up in a mental hospital."

"I'm in the medical profession, we're all mad there."

"That's quite enough out of you, Cheshire," Hinata said. "You want to come in with me?"

Sakura glanced back at the house, weighing the pros and cons in her mind. On the downside, she would have to see more generous expenditure by a wealthy ne'er-do-well, on the other she would get to _see_ said ne'er-do-well and he would surely be very pretty. And she had never gotten around to threatening this Naruto character…

_Well, that pretty much decides it,_ Sakura thought. "Sure, I'd love to! Do you need me to carry anything?"

Hinata shook her head, juggling the giant teddy-bear by herself as she got out of the car. It was half the size of the other woman, and Sakura couldn't say she would be surprise if it weighed the same amount. Poor dear looked like a strong gust could knock her off her feet.

Come to think of it, strong gusts of wind _had_.

Stepping out into the cold was an unpleasant experience, she could taste the chill. She hurried to the house, glad the driveway was clear and she didn't have to watch for patches of ice.

As they drew closer, Sakura heard raised voices—two men, she would guess—and raised an eyebrow at a worried-looking Hinata.

"D-do you think we should come back later?" Hinata chattered, shivering in her thick coat.

"Of course not," Sakrua said breezily. "We already drove all the way here didn't we?"

Hinata nodded reluctantly, but hurried up the steps. The thick walls kept them out of the icy wind.

Sakura paused to listen a moment before knocking, picking up brief snatches of whatever was being shouted.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO!"

"HE'S YOUR BROTHER!"

"I DON'T CARE! STAY OUT OF IT!"

"MAKE ME!"

"I CAN'T! I'M NOT LIKE _YOU!_"

"Hmm," she sniffed. Sounded like an argument that would degenerate into name-calling in just a moment anyway, no harm in interrupting that.

She knocked, and the voices cut off abruptly. She was surprised they had heard over the shouting. She knocked again.

After a small eternity in the cold, and Sakura knocking twice more, the door opened to reveal who could only be Naruto.

_Wow_, she thought, mind curiously blank of all other thought. The only other time she had seen someone to compare him to was the dark-haired stalker in the mall. _He's… really…_

The god-like face of the man broke into a cheek-splitting smile. "Hinata! You came! Come in, come in."

"Thanks," Hinata said, pulling a gaping Sakura in after her. "Sorry to just barge in like this, I just wanted to see how Sasuke was doing… Oh, um, this is Sakura by the way. Naruto, Sakura. Sakura, Naruto."

At the mention of her name, Sakura managed to compose herself and smile at Naruto blithely. "Hi, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Naruto said, shaking her hand. "Well, I'll let him know you're here, and see if he's up for visitors. I'll be right back, make yourselves comfortable."

They remained standing in the hallway, and Sakura spent her time coveting the vases and betting on the chances that the screaming match had popped stitches. She had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, like she was forgetting something important. She didn't think she had left her stove on, she hadn't cooked today, and her keys were in her pocket. She shook her head, and shrugged it off. Probably nothing.

Hinata adjusted the bear in her arms a few times, but was otherwise silent and unmoving throughout the short wait. She seemed anxious.

Naruto reappeared quickly, pouting. "He said he would like to see you," he muttered. He perked up though, at the sight of the stuffed bear trying to crush Hinata. "That for him?"

"Yes," Hinata faltered. "You mentioned he would like one…"

Naruto cackled evilly. "Oh, definitely. This way."

Sakura frowned at Naruto's (broad, rippling with wonderful muscle) back as he led them across the plush carpet to a back bedroom. There was something almost… off about him. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on, like the air was thicker around him, or hazy. She had these feelings sometimes. Usually, it came in the form of instant like or dislike of someone without probable cause, but always those she disliked tended to do things she disapproved of. Like the woman that sold morphine from her drip, or the cop that was actually a serial murderer.

Naruto wasn't like that. She liked him, but she was also…

_Scared? No, that's not it. But there's definitely something… like he could _make_ me fear him, if he wanted to._

Now there was a disturbing thought. She had gotten that feeling around Neji too, though not this strong, and he had put her cornered in a verbal battle in less than a minute. If Naruto was more dangerous… and dating Hinata…

_Know this,_ Sakura thought, watching as he laughed at one of Hinata's quiet comments. _I know ways to kill you that would make it look like an accident, and I know ways that would make it seem like you had done it yourself. You cross the line, you will discover the business end of a potassium-filled syringe._

They came to the end of the hallway, and as Naruto opened the door and ushered Hinata in with a smile, he caught Sakura's gaze, challenge in his eyes._ Bring it_, that look said, and Sakura smiled at him.

"Here's the deal. I'm going to start the Best Friend warning speech, so prepare yourself. You hurt her—"

"I think I got it," he interrupted. "I hurt her, you kill me. Don't worry, I really like her. Come on, let's be friends."

_And if I'm _not_ your friend?_ Sakura thought, but didn't let it show on her face. "Friends," she laughed. "Sorry, she just screams helpless-protect-me! Bless her heart."

Naruto laughed. "She does, huh? Come on, I'll bet Sasuke would like to see you too."

The feeling like she had forgotten something came back in full force. _Sasuke, Sasuke, why does that name sound so familiar?_

She came into the room—blue walls, smooth, polished oak furniture, and floor to ceiling windows to let in the view of a perfectly manicured garden out back—but her eyes were drawn immediately to the resting deity reclining on white Egyptian cotton, eyeing the teddy bear askance, but giving Hinata a warm smile.

_Figures_, Sakura thought, as the guy she had threatened to rip his genitals out through his ears turned his clear black eyes on her.

oOo

Author's Notes: At which point Sasuke grew fangs, giant wings, and ripped Sakura's head off with his taloned hands. And so Sakura realized that, gosh, threatening hot strangers really isn't the best policy.

Please, tell me what you think! Next chapter is Sasuke's POV.


	18. From A Certain Point of View

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: A giant THANKS to all those who reviewed. Sorry it took me so long to get this up, the internet has been off and on the past few days. Also, I wasn't able to get back to everybody, and I apologize, but this time I will! Now, as promised, the Sasuke POV.

oOo

_Don't get mad, get sadistic. -Anonymous_

oOo

Sasuke's day had just become infinitely more enjoyable.

It hadn't started out well. Breakfast had been a cold mush of nutrition, and lunch had been the same. He had slept most of the day, and Naruto wouldn't update him on anything of importance that was going on in the city besides that Sasuke didn't need to worry about Orochimaru. He wouldn't even let Sasuke do paperwork.

Sasuke _needed_ to do paperwork.

Boredom was like a constant, building itch in a place he couldn't scratch. Maybe the large television mounted on the wall, the rack beneath gleaming with every action flick and video game console known to man, would have been distracting enough for someone like Naruto, but Sasuke had been in bed for days, and his, admittedly limited, patience was at an end.

Then had come the cherry on top. Naruto had called Itachi.

Sasuke was pretty sure he had popped some stitches yelling at him about that one, but it had been well worth it. Naruto had no business meddling in Sasuke's affairs, especially when it came to his very limited, very psychotic family.

Naruto may have been _like_ a brother, but he wasn't, and Sasuke was going to make sure he remembered it if it killed him.

Then, right on the verge of Sasuke launching into a Truly Epic Rant, the doorbell had rung and Naruto had marched out of the room, muttering. He had left, right in the middle of an argument, and it left Sasuke seething _and_ bleeding from his popped stitches.

Sasuke's anger had waned while Naruto was gone, enough to let him think clearly. Naruto had been trying to help— the blond had the strange belief that family was important and should be loved beyond all other things. Just that Sasuke's relationship with Itachi was… volatile, didn't mean the two shouldn't interact.

Like Itachi was just supposed to forgive Sasuke for nearly killing him, and Sasuke was just supposed to forgive Itachi for lying to him.

Nonetheless, Naruto was Naruto, and Naruto was almost impossible to stay mad at for very long.

"Don't do it again," Sasuke said simply when Naruto came back in to tell him about the visitors, and Naruto had shrugged. It wasn't a promise, but it was an acknowledgment, the best he was likely to get. It grated on Sasuke's raw nerves, and seeing this Naruto said:

"Hinata's here."

_Ah._

"What are you waiting for then?"

He _liked_ Hinata. She was sweet, polite, cultured, and had a spine of steel. He had once seen her argue a hulking mass of male meat down from a temper with a few red-faced hisses while she was decorating the restaurant, and he had harbored a secret liking for her ever since. Better yet, she could control Naruto, and Sasuke needed all the help he could get in that particular department. He had blinked once, barely even a shift of his determined attention, and Naruto had started a food-fight with the visiting southern dignitaries, barely escaping from vicious third-degree burns from a thrown pot of melted butter.

However, the crowning glory of the day, the moment where the official one-eighty began, was when the pink-haired friend—Sakura, if he remembered right—walked into the room and froze on sight.

It was very gratifying, and mildly comical, to see her eyes widen to that saucer-like proportion, and then close in frustrated acceptance at his smirk.

Oh, but this was going to be fun.

Completely ignoring her, he turned his attention to Hinata, wincing as he caught another glance of the bowtie festooned mound of fluff in her arms. She said Naruto had asked her to bring it—and they were going to have a talk about that later—and had seemed so pleased he had tried to show some appreciation. He was grateful when she put it aside in a chair.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, fussing with brushing his bangs out of his face. Naruto's lip curled.

"Just fine," he said, gently pushing her hands away, and studiously ignoring Sakura's deepening glower. Obviously, she didn't like being ignored when she was expecting drama. He would have to keep that in mind. The red color in her face was actually quite… "Thank you. How are you?"

"I'm not the one who was shot!" Hinata said, pulling up a chair. "Are you in a lot of pain?"

"No," Sasuke said, and resisted the urge to shrug. He had tried earlier today and it had left his vision white. "Although you'd think I'd been tortured from the way the blond goes on about it. He's been forcing nutritious mush down my throat, and hiding my paperwork."

"The horror."

"You see, she agrees with me."

"Well I can only commend you," Sakura said to Naruto, inserting herself into the conversation. "Patients can be so hard to deal with."

"He's a whiner," Naruto assured her. "'I want this, I want that, the temperature's not right, it's exhausting."

Sasuke frowned at him. "Because you're so congenial."

"I—"

"Sasuke!" Hinata gasped suddenly. "You're bleeding!"

Sasuke looked down, and sighed in annoyance. He _had_ popped stitches. Joy.

"It's fine," he said calmly, resisting the urge to poke at his stomach. Tsunade had said the organs were still very tender—likely to bruise or bleed if prodded too much. "I clot quickly."

"Popped stitches?" Sakura asked, already moving forward with single-minded determination. Her eyes were fixed on the darkening patch of his shirt. "From the yelling, probably."

"You heard that?" Naruto asked guiltily. "Oh… well, I can explain…"

"Yelling at someone who is sick is never a good idea."

"Well, actually, he was yelling at me…"

"Naruto," Hinata interrupted, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We should probably stay out of it."

Naruto looked dazed, and Sasuke knew it was from the contact. He nearly rolled his eyes. Pathetic loser.

Cool hands lifted up his shirt, and Sasuke barely stopped himself from jumping at the contact. Sakura's green eyes were focused, her long fingers sure, and he noticed that she smelled good—like apples.

"You're not going to be ripping my guts out are you?" He asked.

She blushed a little, a faint flush of pink on her cheeks, and Sasuke stared. Her blush matched her hair, and her lips, and that color couldn't be natural…

She looked up, her mouth half open to say something, and he found himself staring right into her eyes, which had little flecks of a darker green in them, like shadowed leaves. He licked his lips, and her gaze flicked to his mouth, back to his eyes and-

"Ahem," Naruto said, and Sasuke blinked, almost getting whiplash as he looked up at Naruto. He was grinning, and Hinata was politely interested in the garden outside. "Hinata agreed to stay for dinner, so we're going to run down and grab some supplies. Can you two… play nice while we're gone?"

_Laugh, and I will roast you_, Sasuke promised silently, and Naruto's cheeks puffed out as he tried to restrain himself.

"Well, um, I—I need—I mean! Um, yeah actually, I need some needle and thread… and um… disinfectant. Yeah. Disinfectant," Sakura stuttered, hands snatching back from the bottom of his shirt like she had been burned. "Yup. Those."

"Naruto, would you mind showing Sakura where those things are?" Hinata asked politely.

_Leave_ was the unspoken message, and Sasuke hoped she wasn't going to try to talk to him about Sakura. That would be awkward.

Sakura all but ran from the room and Naruto followed, still grinning manically, leaving Hinata alone with him. She sat down on the bed.

"Sasuke," she started.

"Let me guess," Sasuke interrupted. "If I hurt Sakura—"

"No," Hinata interrupted. "Just some general warnings. She has a very stressful schedule, and just because she suddenly hangs up on you or doesn't talk to you for days doesn't mean she hates you. Also, she knows some martial arts and if you sneak up on her while she's tired, she might blacken your eye, so don't do that, and—"

"You're… warning me _about_ her?"

"Yes," Hinata said firmly. "She can also be very, very protective because she's used to it. She _will_ hurt you if you hurt her. Just… keep that in mind."

Sasuke felt like laughing. He could blow fire, turn rock into powder, and call lightning from the sky—and she was worried Sakura was going to punch him?

"I'll keep that in mind," Sasuke assured her, and she nodded happily.

"I'll go to the store then while she stitches you up," she said, gliding to the door. She paused in the doorway, looking back. "Oh, and Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"You hurt her, and she's not the only one you'll have to answer to."

oOo

Author's Notes: Please review!


	19. Impulse Control

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: I have several really excellent excuses for my tardiness.

I went on vacation, school started and I'm taking two math classes, I've had writer's block out the whazoo, and have been tryign out this whole "responsibility" thing. So, yes, it took me a very long time to update. Yes, it may take me a while to update again, but the point is that I _am_ updating.

Right?

Right?

Well, please enjoy.

oOo

_"I can resist everything except temptation." -Oscar Wilde_

oOo

Hinata hummed _Hey, Soul Sister _quietly as she chopped carrots for the salad, keeping an absentminded eye on the knife while she watched Naruto work. He was shoving a frozen lasagna in the oven above the frozen garlic bread, brow crinkled in deep concentration. His lips puckered as he tried to fit the pans around each other, and then he slammed the oven door shut when they were both in, as if one was going to jump out and try to eat him.

"Okay," he announced. "That's done."

"I'm almost finished with the salad," Hinata said. "What should we have for dessert?"

"Hmm…" he said, snaking his arms her waist and setting his head on her shoulder, bumping her cheek with his. His stubble itched. "I have an idea…"

She tapped him lightly on the head with a carrot, and grabbed the peeler. "I was thinking root beer floats."

"I was thinking whipped cream," Naruto said. His cheek was warm.

Hinata cleared her throat. "Maybe cake."

"Chocolate syrup," he said, and she could feel his lips twitch.

"Pie?" Hinata squeaked.

"Cherries?" She could feel a full-fledged grin on his face now, as his hands covered hers.

There was a split second where Hinata was actually considering cherries, and then she realized Naruto had _grabbed her hand._

"Naruto! The knife!"

Naruto pulled away with a quick hiss, tightening his hand into a fist as he jumped to the sink. Blood dripped through his fingers and onto the floor. He slapped the faucet handle, and water ran pink into the steel sink.

"How bad is it?" Hinata asked, hovering next to his shoulder. His arm blocked the view of his hand.

"Oww," Naruto whined, trying to look pitiful and succeeding. "I think the freakin' thing sliced half my hand off."

"Oh my gosh!"

"I'm _kidding_, Hinata. It's tiny. I'll need a band-aid though. My Granny won't let have any 'exposed wounds' around the 'patient'. Will you go grab the first aid kit? It's in Sasuke's room, I think."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Hinata said, jumping at the chance to be helpful. "I'll be right back. Don't move."

"No worries!" he said with an easy grin. "It's hardly even bleeding anymore."

Hinata checked, and was surprised to see that the water was already running nearly clear. "Oh. Well… I'll be right back."

Hinata hurried down the hall to Sasuke's room, tapping her index fingers together in thought. She had been _sure_ there had been too much blood for the tiny cut she had seen, much too much, unless he had somehow nicked a vein. But from what she had seen the cut was no more than an inch, and shallow to boot. There was no way it could have bled that much…

It was suspiciously quiet on the other side of Sasuke's door, but Hinata knocked anyway.

"Come in!" Sakura called.

"Hi, I just need the first… aid... kit… What are you doing?"

Sakura blinked at her innocently, holding Sasuke's hand steady as she applied another coat of red polish. "He fell asleep, I started digging through my purse… You know that I have very little impulse control."

"Hmm," Hinata said, struggling not to laugh. Oh but he deserved it. Hinata wasn't sure exactly what he had done to deserve it, but she was sure he did nonetheless. She examined the already painted hand critically. "I think he would benefit for another coat on this hand."

Sakura grinned wickedly. "That's why I love you. And the first aid kit is on the dresser."

"Thanks. Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes."

"Excellent. He should be dry by then."

Hinata waited until she shut the door before she laughed, hurrying back to the kitchen. Naruto was there, just finishing sticking a Winnie the Pooh band-aid to his hand.

"I see you found some band-aids," Hinata said, setting the black first aid box down on the counter.

"Yup, I found some hiding in here," Naruto agreed. "And before you ask, the reason I have Winnie the Pooh band-aids is because me and Sasuke are engaged in an epic battle to see who can drive the other over the edge first."

"Sasuke and I," Hinata corrected automatically. "Is this epic battle something I should be wary of?"

"Well," he said, jumping onto the counter. "There's been a few times we've been looked at strangely for it."

"Like?" Hinata asked, jumping up beside him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she leaned her head against his chest.

"I once painted the entire house pink," he admitted. "Sasuke once bought a black '69 Cadillac and destroyed it using a baseball bat to see if I would cry. I did. I changed out all his clothes for tight leather that he had to wear for a month. He destroyed my ramen stash and then convinced our supermarket not to sell any more for a week. You know, basic stuff."

"Uh-huh," Hinata said faintly. _A, that's incredibly creative. B, the amount of _money_ they use on stupid pranks is disgusting!_

"Mmm…" Naruto said, snuggling her closer. "You smell good."

"Thank… you?" Hinata said, blushing.

"You're welcome." He sighed, leaning back against the cupboards. "…I'm hungry."

"I'm hungry too," Hinata admitted. "When's it supposed to be done?"

Naruto craned his neck and groaned. "Twenty minutes."

"A long time," Hinata agreed.

Naruto snuggled her even closer. "Whatever are we going to do to fill the time?"

Hinata smiled, tilting her face up, trying to force her blush down. "I—I might have an idea."

Naruto grinned, and Hinata couldn't help but notice that for the first time he seemed a little shy as he leaned down a little to kiss her.

She found she rather liked it.

Naruto's kiss was gentle and warm. _Like sunshine_, Hinata thought drowsily. _Sparky sunshine._

She could still feel the same shocks on her skin, like when he had held her hand at laser tag or kissed her later that night. The shocks started wherever he touched her, his lips on hers, one large palm on her face and the other on her waist, her hands on his shoulders, radiating out from there.

Hinata pressed a little closer, and Naruto pulled her onto his lap, never breaking contact. His lips were molded to hers, and even breaks to breathe seemed to take too long.

oOo

After what seemed only a short time, she became distantly aware of a beeping noise. Constant, steady, beeping accompanied by a strange smell…

She pulled back with a yelp, nearly falling off the counter. "The food!"

Naruto swore, set her on the floor, and ran to the oven. He pulled on the oven mitts, ripped open the oven, and pulled out the food.

He was too late.

The food was inedible; Hinata could smell it as soon as he pulled it out. It wasn't burned to a crisp, but it _was_ burned.

Naruto growled in frustration and slammed the oven shut, turned it off with a viscious jab. Hinata's stomach rumbled in despair.

"Sorry," she said. There didn't seem to be anything else to say.

Naruto shrugged, and then his smile was back. "No worries, I quite enjoyed the distraction."

Hinata restrained a giggle. Her head still seemed a little fuzzy.

"Anyway, I guess we can just go out to eat."

"Sasuke," Hinata reminded him, and Naruto made a face.

"Right. Okay. …I got it! Chili's sound good?"

"They have to go service," Hinata agreed, nodding. "Perfect! I'll go tell the others."

"And then you'll come with me?" Naruto asked, pouting.

Hinata kissed him without thinking about it, and pulled back before he could respond to enthusiastically. "Yes, I'll go with you. Now stay."

Naruto saluted her. "Whatever you say, Ma'am."

oOo

Author's Notes: Oh, the mush!

But at least it was hot mush, and not cold mush, which is not much mush at all.

Yeah.

Please review!


	20. Awkward Conversations Galore

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: At least it didn't take me as long as last time to update! Updates should be coming a little faster now, as I'm now actually working on this story instead of schoolwork...

oOo

_"If I had a choice between talking to you and talking to my homicidal ex-wife at this moment, I think I would just choose the easy option and see how well I get on with Satan."_

oOo

Sasuke picked irritably at the nail polish on his fingers, daring Naruto to laugh. Naruto was close, very close, but he wasn't quite willing to push Sasuke too far after tonight.

"What did you say to her?" Naruto asked, nodding toward Sasuke's hands. "Sakura, for her to do that."

"Nothing," Sasuke grumped.

"Mm-hmm. But on an entirely unrelated note…?"

"On an entirely unrelated note, my opinion of doctors is very low. I consider them to be infantile know-it-alls that—lack—impulse—control." The last was said as Sasuke picked off a particularly vicious bit of red that clung to his nail stubbornly. _Stupid girl._

"Guess you kind of deserved it then," Naruto said mildly. He leaned his head on his arms and grinned. "Hinata kissed me."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Joy. Going over the details of your personal life is _exactly_ how I planned to spend the night."

"I'm just letting you know," Naruto sniffed, glancing occasionally at the door. "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"I don't want to."

"Fine." Naruto was quiet for a minute. "The girls should be back with the food soon. Hey, why do you think Sakura wanted to go with her, and I couldn't come?"

Sasuke sighed, mentally debating whether he could plead exhaustion, or maybe just death-by-boredom. "Because they wanted to talk about you behind your back."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Oh, of course."

Naruto stared at him suspiciously. Oh, how Sasuke missed the days when he was young and gullible. "Really?"

Sasuke just stared at him, one eyebrow raised, until Naruto stuck his tongue out and looked away. Half the nail polish was gone by the time Naruto spoke again, and Sasuke found himself ridiculously proud the man had managed to keep his tongue in check that long. He was learning.

"PHONE!" Naruto screamed suddenly, and launched himself across the room, looking like he was trying to choke the blue bit of plastic with the force of his enthusiasm. Used to Naruto's insanity by this point, Sasuke only flinched slightly as Naruto bounced back to the bed and jumped on top, shoving it in his face. "It's for _you._"

"I didn't hear it ringing," Sasuke said slowly, staring at the caller ID. _Itachi Uchiha._ He realized he had an expression like the phone was going to bite him and smoothed his face. "It's your phone, you answer it."

"It lit up," Naruto said, keeping his eyes trained on Sasuke's face. "It's just a phone call."

"Said Bill Clinton's lawyer."

"Fine, I'll answer it," Naruto said smugly. He pushed the button, and shoved it against Sauske's ear, grinning like a lunatic.

"_Hello?_"

The too-familiar voice came in crystal clear, no hint of static despite the fact that his reception in Washington was usually spotty at best. No chance of a dropped call.

Sasuke shifted slightly to the side in hope, but there was no change.

"Hi," he said after a long moment's pause. "Uchiha speaking."

"_Yes,_" Itachi's voice was gently amused. "_I know._"

Sasuke didn't know what to say to that, fiddling with a loose thread in the blanket and ignoring Naruto's encouraging smile and thumbs up. "Right."

"_I just called to see that you're doing alright. I just wanted to check. I didn't mean to bother you._"

"Yes. Well, it's fine. I'm fine."

"_Good. I'm glad to hear that._"

"Yes." Sasuke cast his mind about for something to say, anything to say. It was hard talking to Itachi after—after _everything._ "How are you?"

Naruto looked like he might burst into tears of joy by this point, and Sasuke made a pointed shooing motion to the door.

"_I'm well,_" Itachi said quickly, latching on to the tidbit with an enthusiasm that made Sasuke feel guilty. "_Things are going well. Kurenai should be up around there sometime soon. On vacation._"

"We'll be sure to make her feel welcome," Sasuke said. "We're still trying to shovel out the crap that makes the city reek."

"_I've heard there's a vermin problem. Snakes, wasn't it?_"

"Please. He hardly qualifies as a problem."

"_Naruto said you had a run in with him and that's why…_"

"That was nothing," Sasuke snapped, and bit his tongue. "I apologize. That was… rude."

"_No. That was my fault. I shouldn't have brought it up._"

"Maybe."

Silence on both ends of the phone.

"…_Anko is suggesting conversation topics to me._"

"Naruto is threatening his manhood by contorting into letters of the alphabet. Encouraging letters."

Naruto eeped, and untangled himself, dashing for the door. Probably to check everything was intact.

"_Well, aren't we a pair?_"

The thread in Sasuke's finger was beginning to fray, and he focused solely on not snapping it off altogether. "Sure."

"_I just wanted to check on you. I'm sure you need your rest. Maybe we'll talk another time._"

"Sure. Sometime."

"_Good. Good bye._"

"Bye."

Sasuke hung up the phone, and closed his eyes, leaning his head back on the pillows. _Awkward,_ he thought. _Always awkward._

"Food!" Came a shout from down the hall, and then the pattering of feet as all three charged down the hall and crowded on the oversized bed, handing out plates, and chattering like magpies. Hinata was quiet enough, but Naruto more than made up for her.

"We have salmon for Hinata, a cheeseburger for Naruto, Swiss and mushroom burger for Sasuke, and cake for me," Sakura announced proudly, handing everything out.

"You're having cake for dinner?" Sasuke couldn't help asking, and let his eyes skim her figure. He wondered how she kept herself looking so… (he blinked, and snapped his eyes back to her face) _fit_ if she ate cake all the time.

"Watch it, Bub, or you're not getting that nail-polish remover I bought for you."

Naruto guffawed, spraying crumbs, and Hinata hid her face-splitting grin behind her hand. Sasuke snorted. "But it matches my eyes," he said as dryly as he could manage.

Naruto looked like he had been hit by a truck, sputtering under his breath: "You—you just made a joke at _your_ expense!" Hinata and Sakura's laughter hid his remark well though, and Sakura did look nice when she smiled…

Sasuke stopped that train of thought immediately. _No. I am _not_ doing this. I am _not._ I am not forming some kind of freaky _attachment_ to a _doctor_._

Naruto had that look on his face like he knew something was up, but he didn't say a word, only tried to coax Hinata into taking a bit of his burger. Hinata offered a bite of salad, and he refused vehemently on the grounds that it was _green_ and, therefore, _healthy_ and a _vegetable._

"So what do you like to do for fun?" Sakura asked, taking a sip of Coke and watching him over the rim of her glass. She had pretty eyes- green, bright and sharp, with a few bands of dark green close to the iris; very pretty.

"I work," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. "Naruto does _nothing-_"

"I do too do stuff!"

"—that involves paper."

"Oh, well, yeah. That's true."

"And when I'm not doing that I'm either reading, practicing, or running The Den."

"The Den?" Sakura asked. "What's that?"

"Our start," Sasuke said, and Naruto grinned. "It was the first business Naruto and I began, and we've been keeping track of it ever since. We don't want it swallowed by The Company."

"It's _awesome,_" Naruto added, setting his plate on the floor and curling up around Hinata. He nudged her shoulder. "You should come sometime. With me, though. Sometimes it can get rough."

Sasuke snorted, and Naruto amended his statement. "Okay, so it gets rough often."

"I'll think about it," Hinata assured him, her blue eyes sparkling as she snuggled into Naruto's arm. Their saccharine affection was stomach-churning. "Maybe it would be nice."

"I think it would be more of an experience than nice," Sakura said. "Although… that would mean we would have to go shopping for an appropriate outfit. Probably with Ino."

They both shuddered.

"Ino," Sasuke said, trying to remember all of her personal information. Single, blond, had a child of twelve, blond, owned a chain of flower shops… "She's the blond one?"

"Yep," Sakura sighed dramatically, stretching out distractingly on the bed. She had _long_ legs. "With Ino, all things must be done in moderation."

"She's wonderful," Hinata corrected quickly. Sasuke added _loyal to friends_ on his mental list of Hinata's qualities. "High-strung sometimes, but if you ever need _anything_, she's there."

"Like a leech," Sakura agreed. She had a bit of chocolate at the corner of her mouth, right at the junction of her lips, and Sasuke found himself itching to remove it. If her just leaned forward and down…

_No. No, no, no!_

"You have something on your face," Sasuke said abruptly, gesturing. Sakura blinked.

"Oh, thanks."

Naruto sucked on a tooth, looking positively smug. "What did Itachi have to say?" He asked, distracting himself from Sasuke's Death Glare ™ by drawing patterns on Hinata's waist. From the glaze over blue eyes, Hinata was distracted as well.

"Kurenai might be dropping by for a visit soon," Sasuke said. "I said we'd take care of her."

"Of course!"

"Also, Anko and you are scarily similar."

Naruto gagged at the thought.

"Well," Sakura said, checking her watch. "We'd better get going. It's late."

"Thank you for coming," Sasuke said quickly, and had to bite off a yawn. He hadn't realized he was tired.

Sakura hesitated only a moment before setting a Target bag on his bedside table. "Nail polish remover," she explained. "As an apology for my lack of impulse control."

Sasuke nodded. "Thank you."

Sakura seemed to be waiting for something else, raising an eyebrow, and Sasuke raised one right back. She huffed. "Fine! Be that way!"

_Be what way? What did _I_ do wrong?_ Sasuke thought. He couldn't think of anything.

Hinata seemed to find it all very amusing, and patted his head like he was a child before leaving. "Get well soon."

"After all of you? I'll be lucky if I'm not a vegetable by the end of next week."

oOo

Author's Notes: Please take a moment and review!


	21. Minor Misunderstandings

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: So what we have here is a relatively short wait and a longer chapter than the last one! Will this trend continue? We can only hope...

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! I appreciate them all so much!

oOo

_"You know you should get some sleep when the sheep you're counting start to hit the fence." - Duo Maxwell_

oOo

Hinata shivered as she came into her apartment building, stomping to get the snow off her boots. She smiled at Richard as he opened the door, and his old face broke into an answering smile that showed off his crooked teeth.

"Good evening, Hinata," he said. "Did you have a good day?"

"Very. And you, Richard?"

"Oh, just fine. The dog is back."

Hinata frowned, wriggling her toes in her boots to keep them warm. "The yappy one, or the one that pees?"

"The one that pees," Richard said, sighing mournfully and indicating his shoe. "I'll never get the smell out."

"Baking soda might help," Hinata confided as they walked to the elevator. He waited with her until it opened.

"Have a good night, Miss."

"You too, Richard."

The elevator only stopped once, on the second floor, to admit tall man with an affinity for the mafia look. A black trench coat over black leather pants, a similarly colored hat on his head, pulled down low. Hinata could see why almost immediately, the poor man's face was covered in deep, puckered scars.

_He must have been in an accident_, she thought, sadly. _Poor man._ She kept her eyes forward, trying not to stare, but unable to resist peeking at him every now and again. He looked frightening, and she had half a mind to be terrified, but there was also something comforting about him. He reminded her, for some strange reason, of Sakura's grandfather. He had been a rough man, but had a heart-of-gold underneath the gruff exterior that had won over every person he had ever met.

Hinata got the same feeling from this man, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly _why._

He stepped off with her at the fifth floor, moving with perfectly measured strides. "I just moved in," he announced. "Down that way."

Hinata nodded. That apartment had been vacant for years, a rumor of ghosts had scared many potential buyers off. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Hinata Hyuuga."

"Ibiki," he said, shaking her hand. His hand had scars too, a rough patchwork half-hidden by his long cuffs. "Nice to meet you too."

"What do you do?" Hinata asked, as they walked down the hall. She could hear Jimmy wailing in 506 and winced in sympathy for Mrs. Jerry. Jimmy always seemed to be crying after his father left.

"I'm a plumber," Ibiki said.

Hinata may not have had to language of eyebrows down as well as Sakura and Sasuke, but she knew enough that Ibiki ducked his head. "Sometimes," he added. "Usually, I work as a Private Eye with the local NYPD."

"So the next time someone had stolen my plumbing?"

"You come see me," Ibiki affirmed. He didn't quite smile, Hinata wondered if he even could, but there was a fatherly affection there. "Nice meeting you."

"You too," Hinata said, nodding her head as she slipped into her warm apartment.

Humming, Hinata kicked off her shoes and dumped her purse on the hall table. "It's been one week since you looked at me," she sang, debating whether to have hot chocolate before bed. "Cocked your head to the side and said I'm angry."

"There you are!"

Hinata shrieked as she was lifted off the floor and spun around, terror battling with dizziness. _There is someone in my house! Where's the baseball bat? I've got to get to the baseball bat._

As soon as she was back on her feet Hinata spun, barely checking her well-aimed slap before it left a bruise on Kiba's grinning face. She only hit him lightly, and almost immediately wished she had hit him harder. He _deserved_ to be hit harder.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" She yelled, slapping his shoulder. "Geez, Kiba!"

"Sorry, sorry," Kiba placated, holding up his hands in surrender. "I didn't know you didn't know I was here."

"How could I _possibly_ know that you've taken up a new occupation of Home Invader?"

Kiba looked affronted, and pouted. "I left my boots in the hall."

_He left his boots in the hall. Well_ _of course _that_ gave me plenty of warning. _"Kiba," Hinata said clearly, sinking into a kitchen chair to calm her pounding heart. "If you ever do that again I will rip you apart and feed you to Akamaru. I assume Akamaru is here, too?"

"Yep," Kiba stole a chair and made himself comfortable, leaning back as far as he could. Akamaru slunk in from around the corner, and collapsed on top of Hinata's feet. He drooled and panted at her, and Hinata grudgingly scratched his ears. It wasn't like Akamaru had been the one to plot her early demise. "Can I stay the night here? My girlfriend kicked me out of my apartment for the night."

"Why? Did you try and scare her to death too?"

"No, Honey, you know you're the special one," Kiba said. When Hinata didn't laugh, and actually managed a semi-impressive glower, he changed tactics. "I'm sorry I scared you. I thought you knew I was here. Please let me stay?"

"You can take the couch," Hinata sighed. "But I'm going to bed early. I've had a long day."

"Well, it's not too early. It's already eleven."

"Is it?" Hinata asked, yawning. "I was over checking on Sasuke."

"Huh," Kiba said, and yawned himself. "I'll see you in the morning then?"

"Sure."

"Cool."

"But Kiba? If you _ever_, and I mean _ever_, scare me like that again, I will throw you out the window and let you squish on the pavement."

Kiba just laughed, and kissed her head. "And live without my boyish charm? I don't think so."

Hinata muttered something uncomplimentary about his parentage and made a show of stomping to the bathroom. She shut the door behind her, and was soothed by her bedtime routine, trying to ignore the foreign sounds of football announcers from the living room. Football. What was it with men and the modern day excuse for gladiators anyway?

"Hinata! I gotta go!" Kiba yelled from the other side of the door, accompanied by the loud bark of his dog. Hinata wished viciously that her apartment had a rule against dogs above a hundred pounds, and very nearly told Kiba to just go outside with Akamaru. She restrained herself only barely, and took a few moments to lean her head against the smooth surface of the mirror and willed herself to calm.

_Anger. An emotion brought on by the denial of my fight response when Kiba picked me up. A release of endorphins and adrenalin that encourages me to lose control. There is no need to be angry. I just need to relax, let it go…_

"I really gotta go!"

_Drop him from the eighth floor with extreme prejudice and record the _splunch_ noise he makes for posterity!_

"Alright, alright," Hinata grumped. "Let me out so you can… go."

"Have you not had the lights on the entire time?" Kiba asked, laughing flicking on the switch behind her. Hinata blinked at the sudden brightness. Surely she had used the lights. There were no windows in there, it would be pitch black without them.

"Habit to turn them off and on I guess," Hinata said, sucking on a tooth. _It wasn't bright but… I could see. Surely I had them on. …Ugh. Now this is going to bug me all night._

"Well maybe it would explain the toothpaste," Kiba said, flicking a spot from the corner of her mouth. He leaned a little closer, just slightly, just enough that she caught a whiff of aftershave.

"Thank you," Hinata said, ducking under his arm. _I'm not going to feel guilty, I'm not going to turn around when he uses the Kicked Puppy Dog voice to see the Kicked Puppy Dog face. I'm not doing this again. I've given up one too many relationships in favor of not making Kiba sad to do it again. _"I'll see you in the morning then."

"Right," said Kicked Puppy Dog. "See you then."

"Chocolate give me strength," Hinata muttered, leaning against her closed bedroom door. Wildly she thought of locking it, and then cursed herself for being silly. Kiba could be—well usually—alright, _sometimes_ he was gentlemanly… but he was always honorable.

Usually.

"Ooh!" Hinata stamped her foot, muttered under her breath. "I could just—just—ooh! I'm going to bed! To _sleep._ And I'm not—I'm just not going to-"

Her sleep-deprived brain tried to find where she had been taking that statement, failed, and promptly switched off.

Groaning, Hinata fell into bed, kicking off her shoes as she curled up under the covers, closed her eyes, and tried to count the sheep that were running into the fence.

oOo

Naruto moved stealthily down the hall, the _Mission Impossible_ theme song playing in his head. It was nine AM on Saturday morning, and he was going to take his Hinata out to a marvelous, surprise breakfast at _Good Morning._ Then they could spend the day together, and Naruto would have a safe excuse to be far away when Sasuke woke up to the mound of paperwork Naruto had left by his bed.

Ibiki was suddenly there, in that scary-stalker way of moving that he had, just walking next to Naruto as they walked down the poorly carpeted hall, and the theme song in Naruto's head hit a crescendo.. "Contact was made," Ibiki said. "A friend visited her apartment last night and has not left. Nothing more to report."

"You know," Naruto said, sticking his hands in his pockets. "You could just text me this stuff instead of going all _The Informant_ on me."

Ibiki only sneered.

"Nice talking to you!" Naruto called as the scarred man swept into his apartment and his door shut without so much a _click_.

_I have got to get him to try out for a part in a horror movie one of these days_, Naruto thought, knocking on 510.

"Naruto?" Hinata asked, opening the door. She smiled at him, and invited him in with a kiss. "What are you doing here?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me today," Naruto said, trying not to wrinkle his nose. It smelled strange in the apartment. Almost like… wet dog…

"Hey, Hina!" yelled a male—_male_—voice from the bathroom. "Do you want me to make breakfast?"

"That's okay!" Hinata yelled back. "I already made it! Pancakes on the counter."

_She's already had breakfast and there's a guy in her shower. So far, this morning is not going my way. _Naruto desperately tried to distract himself with nonsensical thoughts, random, silly things, like how many feathers a duck had on its butt or starving children or how ripping apart the man in the shower would feel…

Naruto was glad his hands were in his pockets, because he knew that each one was now tipped in a sharp claw, the bubbling in his gut a sure sign he was close to losing his temper. There was a man in Hinata's house, one that had apparently spent the night, and she was acting like it was _nothing._ He wondered how the guy had convinced Hinata to do such a thing. It must have been coercion. Must have.

"Hinata! You didn't tell me anyone was here!" Naruto looked at the man, he seemed familiar, standing at the end of the hall in nothing but a towel, picking at his ear. "Hi," he was saying. "My name's Kiba, I think we've met before…"

"Maybe," Naruto said, focusing on anything but Kiba. _I can't kill him, I can't kill him, I can't kill him—he _touched_ her! He _should—

"Kiba!" Hinata shrieked. "Go and put some clothes on this instant! No wonder your girlfriend kicked you out if you behave like this."

"I think she actually enjoys it."

"Kiba."

"Girlfriend?" Naruto interrupted.

"Yes," Hinata said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Kiba was kicked out of his apartment and crashed on my couch last night. Tomorrow, he will remind his girlfriend that _he_ is the one with the lease, not her."

Kiba shrugged, not looking convinced, and headed into the living room to grab his clothes. Naruto focused on remaining calm, and slowly the sharp points on his hands receded.

"Are you alright?" Hinata asked, laying a hand against his head. "You look upset."

"Well, it was kind of a surprise to see a half-naked guy walking around your apartment after he apparently spent the night," Naruto said, regretting saying anything as soon as the words were out. Hinata looked crushed.

Her face crumpling like a pop can, Hinata stuttered: "I—I'm so _sorry_. He's been a good friend for so long that I d-d-didn't think about what it must l-l-l-l-look like. I'm sorry."

"Forgiven," Naruto said quickly, before she could start crying. "I believe you, I trust you—"

"I shouldn't have given you reason to doubt—"

"Not like you even realized—"

"It won't happen again—"

"You should be able to help a friend when you need to—"

"But you're very important to me too—"

"Would this be solved if I punched him?"

"No!" Hinata gasped. "You can't _hit_ him!"

Naruto was devastated, but hid it behind a brave front. "You're sure?"

"Naruto!"

"I was just checking," he pouted. His nose caught a hot, fluffy scent, and he inhaled deeply. "Is that…?"

"Pancakes," Hinata said, taking him by the hand and leading him into her tiny kitchenette. He could reach between the cabinets without stretching his arms out all the way. "Would you like one? Or two?"

"Or three!" Naruto said gleefully, breathing deep. "Those smell amazing! So, would you mind if I dragged you away from work to spend the day with me?"

"Not at all!" Hinata said quickly. Too quickly. The I'm-horribly-guilty quickly.

"Really?" he said doubtfully.

"I was only going to clean and do laundry," she said. "Honestly. And maybe go see my father, but…"

"You should let him rot!" Kiba announced, sweeping into the room and peering over Hinata's shoulder. "Food?"

"Yes, food."

"I love you!" Kiba announced, and planted a loud kiss on her cheek.

Naruto kept the smile on his face through sheer force of will, and plotted Kiba's untimely demise. From the smug look, Kiba knew it, and was only too happy. He took the seat across from Naruto, smiling, and Naruto smiled back, hoping he wasn't showing off any fang. _Die, dog, die slowly._

Two plates slammed down in front of their faces, jerking them out of their staring match. Hinata frowned down at them, a scary thundercloud of Greek goddess wrath saturated in a mother's disapproval. Both men cowered.

"The amount of stupid _testosterone_ I allow in my home is limited. Kiba, you will _stop_ antagonizing Naruto, and Naruto_ you_ will stop trying to make him pee himself. Now eat."

They ate.

Kiba almost ran out the door to get to work, and Naruto meekly helped with the dishes without being asked. It made Hinata much less frightening.

"So what would you like to do?" Naruto said, smiling tentatively. "We could go out, or just stay around here."

"What would you prefer?" Hinata asked carefully.

"Whatever you like? You've got housework, right? We could just hang out around here, maybe watch some movies, fold your underwear…"

"Naruto!"

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" _Kind of,_ Naruto added in his head, not resisting the urge to drag the backs of his fingers across her red cheeks. She was cute when she blushed, it made her more human and less of some perfectly unattainable statue. "But, all jokes aside, I really would kind of like to hang out here with you today. See what it's like."

_And remove any _trace_ of that dog stench from your home. The couch is _saturated._ I wonder how she would feel about me buying her a new couch? It's gotta be old to sag in the middle like that…_

"…uto? Naruto? Hello?"

"Yes!" Naruto yelped, jumping at the fingers snapped in front of his face. "Yes, um, I was spacing out. Right. Do you want a new couch?"

_Wow,_ Naruto thought as Hinata stared at him in utter confusion, _now that was the way to ask. Worst possible way to ask ever! I have to remember this when I'm proposing._

"A new… couch?" Hinata asked. She looked at her old one, as though trying to decipher its not-so-hidden discrepancies, that cute little frown line puckering between her eyebrows. "Why would I get a new couch?"

_Backpedal, backpedal!_

"'Cause yours is old."

_Wrong way! U-turn! U-turn!_

"Not to say there's anything wrong with old!" Naruto blurted out, his brain and tongue finally connecting. "I was just—it was just—can we just forget this conversation?"

"Did you have a couch in mind?" Hinata asked instead, surveying the couch critically. "I'm going to paint soon, so it needs to match the walls." She smiled at him, an angel smile, and Naruto stared dumbly.

_She gets me_, he thought in surprise. _Which is kind of cliché and mostly dumb but… Hinata has got to be the most amazing woman on the planet. That's the only explanation._

"I figured we could just go to a furniture store. It would be my treat."

Hinata laughed like he had said something ridiculous. "This isn't like ice-cream. I can't just let you buy me a couch!"

"Sure you can!" Naruto said, loving the idea more with every second. He would get rid of the smell, and she would have something that was _theirs_ in her apartment. He liked that idea. He _really_ liked that idea. "Come on, let's go!"

"I'm not sure that—"

Naruto kissed her to cut off that over ambitious train of thought, and handed her her purse. "Do you prefer leather, or cloth? And how do you feel about cup-holders?"

oOo

Author's Notes: If you find any glaring typos, let me know. I re-did before I posted it, and I proof read, but my proofreading doesn't count for much. Also, there will be PLOT next chapter. And Naruto being Naruto, if you didn't get enough in this chapter.

Any comments or questions will be answered via REVIEW!


	22. Evacuate the Dance Floor

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: Long, with plot, and updated before Monday was over! All of these things add up to equal success! (Unlike my math scores, which add up to a number too abmysal to contemplate.)

Big thanks to all who reviewed!

oOo

_"Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something." - The Princess Bride_

oOo

_This is a good couch,_ Hinata thought happily, sinking into soft black leather atop a thick pad. There were no cup-holders, despite Naruto's not-so-subtle hints, and the simple woodwork on the base matched the rest of the house perfectly. Not to mention it was really, really comfortable. Sitting on the couch was kind of like sinking into a cloud of soft butter.

Which, thinking about it, was kind of gross, but feeling it…

_I will never move again_, Hinata vowed, kicking off her shoes and snuggling up with a blanket and the remote. She was relatively sure she still had _Return to Me_ in the DVD player, and after a day of shopping for a room that was half modernist and half color-vomit (not that there was always much of a difference) for a cat lady, she was ready to do absolutely nothing but sink into her butter couch and watch improbable, yet sweet, romance.

About the same time Minnie Driver was saying: "No, some of it we boil in Swiss water." Hinata was finally relaxing from her day. Her feet had even stopped aching a bit, which was a small miracle. Flats had been completely unpractical for the amount of walking she had done—next time she was wearing sneakers, she didn't care how it looked. Better yet, there was no cat smell in her apartment, which was doing wonders for her sinuses. She had been sneezing all day.

So, really, when the phone rang she mostly saw it as an inevitable failing of the universe at large.

Groaning, she groped for her purse, then her phone, then the little green button that unleashed her Aunts voice on her sensitive ear drums.

"Hinata! Darling! Just the girl I wanted to talk to!"

_Good thing you called my phone then,_ Hinata thought. She sighed. "Hello, Aunt Elisa."

"Is that Hinata? Tell her we said hello!" Said a voice in the background, there was a general clamor of agreements for a moment, and Hinata winced. It was The Pack, the group of Aunts that ran the family with an iron fist and meddled in everyone's affairs. The hatred of The Pack was one of the only things she agreed on with her father.

If they were all together, and calling her, only misery awaited.

"Everyone says hello, Dear."

"Tell them I said hello as well, if you would," Hinata said, trying to keep polite and calm. Her heart thudded against her rib-cage in terror. The last time they had called, it had been to tell her everything she could do to improve her life—a three hour lecture on her faults and exact descriptors of how her mother had never been that way, followed by a list of orders that had her running around for a week. Saying no, arguing, those hadn't even been options.

And that had only been _half_ of them together.

"I will," Aunt Elisa said. "Now dear, we've heard you're _dating_ someone—"

"Auntie," Hinata interjected desperately. She was suddenly very glad that Naruto had to work tonight, so that she couldn't be convinced into handing the phone to him. Between Naruto and The Pack, she wouldn't have stood a chance. "I'm so sorry, but you've caught me at a bad time, and I don't have very long to talk. You know how much I adore talking to you, but…"

"Only a few minutes then? Perfectly understandable! We'll catch up another time."

"Thank you so much, Auntie. I would love that. I—"

"I'll just get straight to the point then, shall I? We've been discussing the Family Reunion. It's coming up _so_ soon you know, and we would like you to decorate the room. Only a trifling project, of course. Three rooms and the hall and outside, all about large ballroom size except the hall—and the lawn is several acres of course. It'll be happening right outside the city! Doesn't that sound lovely? Now what we're thinking is something soft, delicate, but also powerful and moving and—are you writing this down dear?"

"Of course, Auntie," Hinata sighed, digging in her purse for pen and paper. She paused the movie, and settled in. "What else?"

Half an hour later, Hinata finally hung up the phone, finding small comfort in the fact that they had only managed to point out flaws one through sixty-eight before Hinata had managed to politely cut them off.

Her head started to pound.

"Yes, Auntie. Of course, Auntie. Sounds wonderful, Auntie," Hinata mimicked in high falsetto. She growled and turned on her movie again, the screen had gone black in her absence.

Not two minutes later, the phone rang.

This time, Hinata checked caller ID.

"Ino," she breathed in relief. "I'm so glad you called."

"Why? What happened?" Ino asked.

"The Pack called."

"Ouch."

"Yeah."

"Bad day?"

"Very?"

"Want to go to that new club with me tonight? It's supposed to get pretty interesting."

"Interesting is the last thing I want right now," Hinata sighed, wondering if she still had that ice-cream in the freezer. "Who's watching Holly?"

"Amanda—"

"No!" Holly screamed in the background. "She's anorexic and she's stupid and I don't like her!"

"Holly…"

"No way, Mom! I'm seven years old and have and IQ of two-hundred and one. I can stay home by myself!"

"No."

"You'll be crushing my confidence and disabling me for the rest of my life! Studies have shown that—"

"No."

"But—"

"No."

"_Mom!_"

"Bring her over here," Hinata interrupted, trying not to laugh. Ino may not have had an IQ of two-hundred and one, but she could get her way with anyone. "I'd love to have her. I haven't seen her in so long…"

"What about your bad day?" Ino asked, shushing an excited Holly. She was screaming that Hinata's house was a good idea, and that studies had shown…

_I love that girl._ "She'll make it better. Bring her over, it'll be fun."

"You're a Godsend," Ino squealed. "Twenty minutes?"

"Sounds good," Hinata said, smiling. "And you have fun tonight, okay?"

"Oh, I will."

oOo

Kabuto leaned casually against the wall—shoulders slouched, spine curved—idly sifting through a stack of stark white papers easily three inches thick. The papers held nothing of real importance. They detailed only the shipments of some items, their current food stock, the people in their employ, all the dirty secrets of every influential member of New York, and other trivialities. Uninteresting, especially when compared to the current of unease running through the dumb crowd of chattel currently taking up _Snake's_ dance floor.

They were humans, most of them. They gave him a wide berth despite his open stance, not knowing why they felt uneasy around the slight man-child with his thick glasses and prematurely gray hair, and most of them not caring. To them, he was nothing but a wallflower his coworkers had dragged from his cubicle for a night out, unable to abandon his precious office work.

Nonetheless, none of the horde moved any closer to him than they had to.

Darting eyes surrounded by a sweat-slick face betrayed the nervousness of the blond woman dancing in the middle of the room, her hair pulled back into a high ponytail—o_wns flower shops, has a daughter—,_ and her tight, skimpy clothes barely preserving modesty. The walking tattoo billboard, the ink smeared from his rapidly developing waistline, had a nervous tic above his pierced eyebrow—_steals TVs, other odd jobs, low-class basic criminal who started buying food with what he used to spend on tattoos—_, and his oiled friend licked his chapped lips—_offers the jobs, low class criminal, gives tips to police for extra cash, has a fat wife—_ almost constantly.

Kabuto made a note of the men. They looked as if they would be interesting eating for the bouncers.

"What do we have tonight?" Orochimaru murmured, his voice slightly muted through the Bluetooth. Kabuto adjusted it slightly, hoping for better quality. He wouldn't want to miss a nuance of expression Orochimaru might offer him because of faulty equipment. "Anything interesting?"

"Nothing," Kabuto replied, swiftly double-checking the room for anything out of the norm. They couldn't afford any mistakes, not with the Fox's hammer blow waiting for a slip. "Basic human chattel. Nothing of interest."

"Get started then. I'm hungry."

"Should I save any? A few may increase sales."

"One or two. No more."

"Yes, Sir."

He signaled Jerry, a balding Kappa at the bar, with a finger. Jerry nodded, moving to whisper in the two bouncer's ears. They were Gargoyles, huge, hulking beasts with dark skin and horns barely hidden by their afros. They smiled, and locked the door.

There were only two doors out, and the pounding music hid the sound of the heavy steel bolts sliding home into the main door perfectly. Fang—the imp in the booth—noticed and changed the song to something with a heavy bass beat and the lights to a harsh red.

Tapping his finger along to the beat—the same as a human heat at twice its normal rate, very fitting—Kabuto shrugged his shoulders and tapped the panel behind him. Dark wood slid away to reveal the only other exit, and he stepped in without a backwards glance.

The screaming started soon after, and he made a mental note to enter into the computer that their food stock had been replenished.

oOo

"Let me be," Ino sang, bouncing to the beat, trying to banish her feeling of unease to the back of her mind. There was nothing to be uneasy about. The music was decent, the bar was well-stocked, and the guy she was dancing with was extremely tasty. He was also extremely hands on, but a sharp smile had taken care of that and now he was being mostly good.

Not _too_ good, though. That would have been boring.

_Certainly not enough to make my hackles rise though_, Ino thought. _So what is it? I spotted a suspiciously pineapple shaped ponytail earlier, but lots of people wear their hair up, and I'm over _him_ anyway. So…_

She spun, swaying her hips, flashing a smile at Todd the Tasty when his hands grazed her shoulders to draw her back against him. She rolled—stumbled as the uneasy feeling became a sudden stab of fear. Something was not right.

The four-eyed wallflower in the corner stepped back where a wall should be, straight into shadow, glasses glinting farewell as he left. The music changed to a heavier beat, and the lights flashed red.

Ino corrected herself. Something was _wrong._

"Todd," she shouted. "I'll be right back."

She slipped away before he could answer, jumping down from the raised stage and hurrying to the wall where that guy had disappeared. It was smooth, unmarked, but Ino had seen enough TV to know that meant _nothing._

Someone screamed, high and terrified, and Ino whirled to see what was wrong. The bouncers were moving along the stage, but they looked different than they had before. They had been abnormally large when Ino had come in, thick ropes of muscle bulging under their tight shirts, but now they seemed even bigger—twice the size of everyone on stage, and moving through the crowd with swift efficiency. They each held a huge bag, and as they moved they cracked necks or heads, and plopped the body into the bag with practiced ease.

Obviously, this was not the night she should have gone out.

Some people were trying to run to the door, pulling frantically when they didn't open. Others moved to windows, smashing against them, but they did not break— the red strobe light flashed, blinding and horrible, the music pounding along with her heart.

Starting to panic, Ino turned back to the wood, running her hands along it, hoping the catch was somewhere close. Maybe it would just open, maybe they would take pity on her, maybe—maybe—

The wood was smooth, whole unbroken. The screams were getting softer, too many people dying too quickly to keep up the noise. Her hands shook, wondering if they were coming up behind her even now, hands raised and faces locked in a grin—

_Click_.

So soft, she barely noticed, but the door swung inwards and, sobbing, Ino forced her way in and slammed it behind her.

Something smashed against the thick wood, and her knees buckled. Her mind was a gibbering mass of terror, and her choked sobs stopped when her throat became too tight. There were _things_ out there—not people, too big to be people—killing. For a wild second she wondered if she was on some show, but…

No. She couldn't be. The blood had been a bit too real, the terrors too close, the smell too strong.

If this was a joke, someone had a sick sense of humor.

Something sticky touched her hands, and Ino looked down and swallowed bile. There was blood leaking under the door. It hadn't been one of the afroed bouncers hitting the door after all, but a body.

Ino forced herself to shaky legs, and slapped her cheeks. She was Ino Yamanaka, and if these sick freaks thought she was going to let fear slow her down, then she was going to show them just what happened to people who messed with her. She had promised Holly she'd be back by midnight, and she was _going_ to be back by midnight, and anyone who got in her way was on a one-way trip to _Hell_!

Fortified, Ino hurried down the hall. It was a nice hall, paneled in dark wood with thick carpet and dim lamps spaced every few feet, so that the shadows deepened nearly to blackness in between. Ino could admit that these spaces rather unnerved her, and she moved quickly from one patch of light to the next. Her breath rasped too loudly in the still air, and the hallway continued, unbroken, for a long time.

Just when she was wondering if there were other secret passages here too, a part of the wall slid back just ahead of her.

Ino pressed back against the wall and froze, right in the dark spot of the hall. A man emerged from the doorway, backing out slowly, and the door shut with a quiet hiss of wood on carpet. The guy stood there, watching it, and then looked exactly where she was hiding.

He smiled, glasses reflecting the dim light, and said "Oh, hello there. Lost?"

"Very," Ino squeaked, shuddering as her bare back hit the cold wall. The man stepped closer, and Ino tried to stop her legs from trembling. His presence made the hair on the back of her neck stand straight up, jitters dance along her nerves.

"Hmm… well. Should I escort you back to the party?"

"Is that silk?" Ino asked, gesturing to his shirt, and trying to peel herself off the wall. Her eyes flicked down the hall, and back to him. _Focus on something else_, she told herself, moving on to trying to decide if his shoes were real leather. If she even thought about what lay at the other end of the hall, she would probably pee herself. "I like your watch."

"Thank you," the man murmured, pulling back slightly. "But you didn't answer my question."

"Oh, right. If you could just show me out through the exit I would appreciate it. I've been walking for a while, and I would really just like to get home the fast way out. Sorry to butt in like this, by the way. I've kind of figured out I shouldn't be back here, but, you know, curiosity killed the cat…"

_Wow, bad analogy_.

"Satisfaction brought it back. Miss… Ino, wasn't it? Ino Yamanaka. You own a flower shop. You have a daughter. Holly Yamanaka. Correct?"

"Yeah," Ino said, fighting down a rising bubble of panic. This guy knew who she was, knew her daughter, probably knew where she _lived—_knew too much, in general. Between the massacre on the dance floor and the primal screech in the back of her mind to run… not a guy to cross, either. Best to play it dumb. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

His lips twitched, pale little slugs wriggling on a face that looked barely old enough for peach fuzz. His dark, expensive suit added a few years to his age, but not much. He couldn't have even graduated yet.

"Kabuto," he said, voice accented strangely sharp. "Just Kabtuo. Now, I'm going to ask you a question, and I prefer that you be very, very truthful with me, Ino."

"Sure," Ino said, trying to shuffle her feet sideways. A little closer, and she could drive the heel of her hand into his nose, maybe shove the cartilage and bone into his brain, and down the hallway…

"What did you see in there?" Kabuto asked, and his head tilted just enough that she could see his eyes. Frigid, black, calculating, eyes—just waiting for her to make a move so that he could snap her neck, feed her to the monsters slavering back at the club.

"Nothing," Ino said firmly, goosebumps rippling over her skin. "I didn't see anything."

"Didn't you?" His thumb brushed against her cheek, pulled back red. She wondered how she had gotten blood on her face, but refused to think about it. "Are you sure?"

Ino winced as a spike of pain shot through her skull, barely biting back a whimper. "I didn't see anything, Kabuto. Don't remember seeing anything, certainly. That must be punch."

Kabuto smiled, revealing bright, sharp teeth. He licked his thumb quickly. "Excellent! You remember that well. Maybe I'll drop by your flower shop sometime and see you and your daughter at work, hmm?"

The threat was clear, and Ino nodded vigorously. Her head felt like it was splitting in two, white-hot tunnels fingering through her brain in shafts of pain. "We—we always love new customers."

Kabuto laughed delightedly, seizing her arm and dragging her down the hall. "You're good! You're very good!" Cold air slammed against her almost as hard as the wet pavement as Ino landed outside, screeching as skin was scraped from her arms. "Go on then, Pet! And remember to keep me in mind."

Ino scrambled to her feet, running past the blazing lights of the warehouse, surprised to hear the thin thread of screams still coming from the doors. Surely it had been at least an hour since she had gone in?

She shook her head. It didn't matter. She was going to Holly, right now, and they were moving to Florida. They were never coming back here, not ever.

She turned onto the main street, legs almost failing her again as a cab rounded the corner. A cab. Home.

A hand covered her mouth, and the world went black.

oOo

Author's Notes: Bwahaha! Cliffy.

Please review, and let me know what you think!


	23. With Friends Like These

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: A big thanks to all who reviewed last chapter! I am sorry about the cliffhanger, but I hope this next chapter will make up for it a little bit. I really struggled with it, getting it done only yesterday afternoon. D: I hope you enjoy!

oOo

_Proof that women are evil:_

_As any male can attest to, women are, most simply, time and money: _

_Women = time x money_

_(We know that time is money so, )_

_Women = money x money_

_Women = money squared_

_(We also know that money is the root of all evil,)_

_Money = square root of evil_

_Money squared = evil_

_(And if women = money squared)_

_ERGO, Women = evil ~ Credited to Simon Singh_

oOo

The office was paneled in dark cherry wood, bathed in a harsh florescent glow from the tinkling chandelier; it hung above the sturdy bulk of a desk crouched like an animal ready for the final lunge. The office was quiet, intimidating in its austere strength. The desk was clear except for a small lamp and an onyx paperweight stylized as an eagle with red and black starred eyes. The only other concession to the sterile environment was a painting on the back wall.

The painting was obviously a masterpiece, crafted carefully with paint and brush into a muted rendition of a thunderstorm roiling over a lake. A massive bank of black clouds boomed over snow-brushed mountains, the heavens trembling right before the downpour of a deluge, a few drops already falling to disturb the whipped caps of the lake. A tree stood on the rocky shore, each detail bright and startling in clarity, clapped in half by the thin, jagged bolt of lightning streaking down the center of the picture.

Shikamaru studied the picture in avid interest, detailing the tiny brushstrokes and bold coloring. He hadn't seen a painting like it before, but he would have judged it to be painted in the early Baroque era, the oil hinting at an Italian origin. Worth about ten-thousand dollars—twenty, if he counted the gold-filigreed frame.

The door opened and shut with a soft click. Leather shoes whispered over the thick Persian rug—Shikarmaru dated it around 1940—and Sasuke Uchiha settled into the thick leather chair on the other side of his desk.

"Nara," Uchiha murmured, sardonic and calm. "Shockingly, you don't seem happy to see me. To what do I owe the honor of having my private office being broken into?"

Shikarmaru continued his study of the painting in silence, still trying to wrestle the cold monster in his belly to stillness. He was furious, and the tight muscle in his jaw was all he could show of it.

Uchiha nodded, turning his chair halfway to see the painting as well. "Naruto," he explained. "After he tracked me to Italy. He found an interest in painting, but he was terrible. Surprise, surprise. He commissioned that from a friend he had made. Magro, was his name, I think. Naruto still occasionally finds joy from painting in the form of more modern art. Flicking neon paint at a canvas and calling it art appeals to him."

"Hmm," Shikamaru grunted, shifting slightly in his very comfortable chair.

It was quiet for several long moments, both men studying the painting. A clock ticked somewhere, softly.

"Ino was there tonight," Shikamaru said finally. "I had to knock her out and drag her away before Kabtuo's blood cab could ship her off to some—"

He cut himself off. His voice had become more and more controlled throughout his speech, more tightly wound, and he didn't dare finish. An actual acknowledgment of a brunch club where Ino would be put on display in some cage, veins laid bare and—he stopped himself.

"I see," Uchiha said diplomatically. "Is she willing to testify?"

"She's not awake yet."

"Ah," Uchiha said. His eyebrow twitched with the desire to raise, but it remained firm. "Then why are you here?"

"I saw her come out," Shikamaru said, tone brittle. "Isn't that enough?"

"No."

"Then there's no point in me being here," Shikamaru said, standing. "I'll have it taken care of my—"

"Shikamaru," Uchiha interrupted, the rare use of his name enough to stop Shikamaru in his tracks. "Orochimaru is different. He's playing by different rules. I-" he paused to swallow his pride. "_I_ was… beaten by him. Give us some time. Naruto is working on it. You trust him, don't you?"

Shikamaru's mind whirled through a thousand strategies, retorts, and plans that would both Uchiha and Orochimaru wailing. He could destroy them both utterly, leave them as pathetic husks with nowhere to run, screaming. He could, with a few months to plan.

But he _did_ trust Naruto. Naruto wouldn't fail him.

"Tell him he has three months," Shikamaru ordered finally. "Then I make my move. Three months, Uchiha."

"Go back to your wife, Nara," Uchiha said cuttingly. "We have it well under control here. Oh, and tell Ino not to leave the city. We'll make sure she doesn't."

Shikamaru glared over his shoulder, and stalked out the door.

oOo

Ino woke to the really horrible feeling of being both mildly hung over and significantly drugged on Nyquil. The only time she had felt worse than this was during those three days of "morning" sickness that sent her to the hospital for dehydration. She was being jostled, warm arms around her, and she had a sinking in the pit of her stomach that meant she was on an elevator.

She took a deep breath, smelled pine needles and outside, and relaxed.

"I'm mad at you," she told Shikamaru, lifting her head from his shoulder took a great deal of willpower. He would deserve it if she threw up on him. She might do it for the principle of the matter. "Where am I you stupid loaf of mincemeat?"

"How much do you weigh now anyway?" Shikamaru shot back, hiking her up on his back. It was strange to feel his familiar hands on her bare thighs. "You really need to lay off the doughnuts."

"No, _you_ need to spend more time in the gym," Ino corrected. "Where am I?"

"Your apartment building, on the elevator," Shikamaru said. "I'll drop you off there, _where you will stay_—and then go pick up Holly from Hinata's."

_Holly_, her heart ached at the thought of her daughter. She wondered how Holly would feel about moving to Florida. Or maybe California. California was even further. Far away was good.

"That's fine," she said, laying her head back down. Her entire _brain_ was pounding. "I'll get her. It's not your job."

"I'm not allowed to help out every once in a while?"

"How does Temari feel about you helping me out?"

"Temari loves Holly."

"Code for she hates _my_ guts," Ino sighed. "Well, you'll have easier access to Holly soon at any rate. We're moving to California, near a beach I think. I've heard beaches are nice to live by and I'm sure I can find her a good school—"

"You can't leave the city," Shikamaru said. He tensed, waiting for her to hit him.

She did. Hard.

"You have no _idea_—"

"I have _every_ idea," Shikamaru snapped, hands tightening on her thighs. And wasn't _that_ a strange sensation? "You ran into some big nasties, they told you they'd find you…"

Ino shook at the memory, but forced the trembling to stop. She suddenly noted a dull ache in her arms, but she ignored that too. "I don't know what you're talking about. I have a little too much to drink, maybe. Some guy was helping me to a cab when you _mugged_ me."

Her bare feet—_bare? Where are my shoes?_—hit the floor with a _thump_ and Shikamaru spun to face her, trapping her in the delicious place between wall and body.

Ino firmly reminded herself he was married.

"If you would just tell me," he said, voice low and urgent. "I could make sure you and Holly are protected."

"You kind of proved by that little trip to the drugstore that you're not so great in the protection department, Shika."

"Ino!" He turned away with a frustrated noise, shoving his hands in his pockets. He was counting to ten, she could tell from the way he was breathing. He turned around once he was done, calm restored. "If you won't trust me, I'll take you to someone you can."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ino repeated fiercely. "I was tipsy."

"You were nearly _murdered_!" Shikamaru roared.

"TIPSY!" Ino yelled back, remembering those slug lips and their unmistakable threat. She had gotten Shika into enough trouble before this. He didn't understand, couldn't understand, what she had seen. She wasn't about to let him get involved in her problems. "Stay out of it!"

"Fine," Shikamaru said through gritted teeth. "But you have to stay in the city."

The elevator dinged and Ino got off, rummaging in her purse for her key.

"Ino. You _have _to _stay _in the _city._"

"Bite me," Ino snarled, and slammed her door in his face.

oOo

Author's Notes: Bad Ino!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did, then please review!


	24. Party Time

Disclaimer: See previous.

Author's Notes: First off, I am sorry I didn't post Monday as I should have. I went on vacation and had absolutely no inclination to do so, not to mention limited access to a computer and a raging head cold. Secondly, THERE IS A TIME SKIP IN THIS CHAPTER. That _Early April_ you see down there does in fact mean that almost two months have elapsed since the last chapter. Just letting you know.

Third, enjoy!

oOo

_Early April._

Hinata adjusted Naruto's tie nervously while he just stood grinning at her.

"Stop worrying so much," he cajoled. "They'll love me!"

Hinata nodded, chewing on her lip. "Of course they will. They'll love you. Of course they will."

Naruto shook his head, taking her half-frozen hands between two of his. "Stop worrying so much."

"Are you sure you should be here?" Hinata asked. "Sasuke…"

"Can handle the office stuff for one day," he said. He turned her around, rubbing her shoulders through her dress. "Now, come on, we can do this!"

Hinata sighed, staring at the double doors that would lead her into the Hyuuga Family Reunion. She knew what it would look like inside, she had decorated. Swathes of pale white, blue, and purple silk would be draped around the room, lights shimmering behind them like fairies. All the tables would have floral arrangements, courtesy of Ino, in delicate glass vases centered on the bleached tablecloths. Men in tuxedos would go around the room offering champagne in thin flutes, and hors d'oeuvres on gleaming silver trays.

There would be a string quartet in the corner, playing soft music. She could hear it from here, the strains of Moonlight Sonata, played perfectly by experts. There would be no children under the age of eighteen.

No, the children were in a party where there were balloons, pop music, and fish sticks. Hinata wished she were at that party.

"Hinataaaa?" Naruto said. "Not that it isn't really fun out here in the hall, but I was just wondering... What's it like where you are?"

"What?" Hinata said. "Oh, sorry. I'm just—there's going to be this corner in there, this group, of ladies dressed in whatever color is in this year and they're—you remember meeting my Aunt Hitomi?"

Naruto winced at the memory, not a week ago. "Not an experience I'm likely to forget. She's… she's—"

"Nothing compared to the circle of hounds in there," Hinata said, twitching her black dress straight. Last time she had worn a pink dress and been too young, this time she was sure she would look to old, next time too conservative, the next too bold. Maybe they would encourage her to take more risks, or say that she was taking too many. She glanced at her shoes. Peep toes were all right, weren't they? She groaned. "They're going to eat us."

"I don't suppose if I gave them to you as an offering…"

"Naruto!"

"I was mostly kidding!" Naruto laughed. He kissed the top of her head. "Come on, let's go in."

"Alright," Hinata agreed, taking his arm. "But if it comes down to it…"

"I go down with the ship, got it," Naruto agreed. "Did I mention that I like that dress?"

"Yes," Hinata said with a smile. It was pretty, she had to agree. Trailing the floor, a moderate slit just past her knee, and a contoured neckline—a few sparkles made it catch the light. "Have I mentioned that you look good too?"

A classic black tux and shiny shoes, with his hair actually combed, could really do wonders for the man. He grinned blindingly at her. "I still think I should have worn the orange bowtie."

Hinata made an uncommitted sound in the back of her throat.

The room looked exactly as it should, and the colors had all come together nicely. _Perhaps a nice rose next time_, Hinata reflected absently, eyeing the floor. _I think it would set off the undertones in the marble and make the room glow a little…_

"Wow," Naruto said, blinking rapidly. "This is… dazzling. Nice job."

"Thank you." _Hoover Dam!_ There was The Pack of bustling busybodies, their sharp eyes scanning the room for the weak and pitiful. They could pick out a split end from the other side of a football field.

One of them, with whom Hinata wasn't on a first name basis and clad in a canary yellow frock, trained those eyes on her and turned to whisper to her pursed-lipped counterpart. Then two eyes set of eyes were trained on her, and she was starting to breathe just a little faster…

"Sissy!" Hanabi cried, wrapping a tight hug around Hinata's waist and steering her away from the attention of the wrinkly raptors. "How are you?"

"Hanabi!" Hinata squealed, hugging her back tightly. "You look beautiful! How are you?"

"Neglected," Hanabi accused, pouting at her. "You haven't been calling me!"

"I'm sorry. I-"

"Oh, it doesn't matter," Hanabi said, waving it away, her limited attention already grasped. "Naruto! Don't you look dapper!"

"If that word means what I think, then yes," Naruto agreed, hugging Hanabi. Hanabi blinked, raising an eyebrow at Hinata. Casual touch was rather foreign among the Hyuuga unless they had been placed together since birth.

"It means you look handsome," Hanabi said, extricating herself before any wild accusations could go flying.

"Oh, then no." He winked, charming, and Hinata shook her head affectionately. Charmer.

"Well look who's here," Kiba crowed, throwing an arm around the girl's shoulders and kissing their cheeks. "Hanabi! How long has it been?"

"Two minutes," Hanabi said crisply, stepping on his foot. Ignoring his howling, she told Hinata, "He's my date. It just didn't feel right not to have him here after he's become such a source of entertainment for us all."

"Great," Hinata said, trying not to notice that Naruto had wrapped an arm around her and was scowling at Kiba. Both men were still rather sore about their last meeting.

"So," Naruto said, unable to keep himself out of any conversation for long. "Where's this Neji I've heard so much about?"

"Been warned about more like," Hanabi said, grinning. "Come with me, I'll introduce you. He's been dying to meet you. So has Daddy!"

"Hanabi—" Hinata tried, but her whirlwind sister was already gone, Naruto barely keeping up with her quick strides. Hanabi was—she was—Hinata blew out a frustrated breath. "Be careful!" She called after them.

"If you want to kill her," Kiba said. "I will very happily hold her down."

"Eww," Hinata said, giggling. "Kiba, she's my sister!"

"And I was kidding," Kiba said, his tattooed cheeks not quite hiding the little dimple in his cheek as he grinned. He grabbed some champagne off a passing tray and handed her one. "Come on, I'll make the rounds with you."

Hinata took one last glance in the direction Naruto had disappeared, and shrugged. There was little she could do to help him now.

oOo

Neji was not enjoying the party.

His family was composed of imbecilic opportunists and their clinging limpets they claimed as husband or wife—Neji assumed, kindly, that they had all been dropped on their heads as infants and so couldn't be held responsible for their inability to understand what the words "intelligent conversation" meant. The small portion of his family that he tolerated, a nearly extinct species, consisted of the only mildly inept portion of the room. Those were the more closely related portion of the family, and most of them could at least pretend to be able to discuss stocks and Thoreau in the same conversation.

"Neji!"

He smiled. Then there was the infinitesimal portion of his infinitely puerile clan that he actually liked.

"Neji," Hanabi repeated, smiling brilliantly as she dragged a blond man with a vacant expression through the mass of decorated fat. He scanned her dress quickly and nodded. Modest, and tastefully attractive—he wouldn't have to incapacitate anyone until they had too many bubblies and started imagining what lay below her pearled neckline. "I'm so glad to see someone normal! Have you seen Cousin Dawn? She's wearing peacock feathers and pink fringe! Not on her dress either."

Neji shied away from the horrifying image with a shudder. "No, and thank you for the warning, I think I'll avoid pink for the rest of my natural life. Come here."

Obligingly, she hugged him, and then pulled the blond man closer. He was watching Neji, his blue eyes sharp and electric. Calculating.

_A one-eighty from his earlier look_, Neji noted, narrowing his eyes. _A man who knows how to bury his intentions and thoughts… I'll have to keep an eye out._

"Hi!" the man blurted out, as though he couldn't contain himself any longer. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm here with Hinata, except she went somewhere else, and I'm really excited to meet you! I've been warned about your wicked right jab like_ six times_ and I've heard you can make the toughest guys stop in their tracks with a glare! You're a lawyer, right? I like lawyers. Well, I like them more tax collectors anyway. Do lawyers do that too? I don't know. Anyway, it's nice to meet you."

Neji was experiencing the very aberrant sensation of being knocked on the head several times in succession. This man—this _Naruto Uzumaki_—had achieved something few ever had: He had put Neji off balance, changing his opinion of him so quickly that his calculations were being wildly skewed as soon as he could form them.

This was utterly unacceptable.

"You are a very dangerous individual," Neji noted. "Interesting. Go awa—_You_ are dating Hinata?"

"Yep," Naruto said, beaming. "Hey, Hanabi, would you pretty, pretty, pretty _please_ get me one of those crab things that just went by?"

Hanabi frowned, muttered something, but stomped off in search.

Neji calmed himself, preparing for a confrontation, determined not to be surprised by this man a third time.

"Look," Naruto said, and his eyes seemed to almost glow. "We can be friends, or not, but don't go around telling people I'm dangerous. I don't know who you're working for, but speaking out in public is unacceptable. Ever."

Neji felt a sudden weight on his mind, a force that whispered endearingly for him to obey.

_Obey._

Neji's head spun sickeningly, and he glared venomously at a suddenly impassive Naruto- the face of one who was used to being obeyed.

_What are you? _Neji thought. _Gang? White-collar crime? Or are you a part of the new chain of operations that recently came to town? Either way, no one crosses me and gets away with it._

Neji's spine was so straight he thought it would snap, but it helped him gain that precious inch that allowed him to look down on Naruto. "Who are you? I won't allow some piece of gang scum to touch my cousin—"

The weight disappeared.

"_Oh_," Naruto said. "Oh. Oh, crap. Um… sorry."

"What are you—"

And then the world was black.

oOo

Author's Notes: Personally, I think Neji deserved that, but let me know what you think!


	25. Running Scared

Disclaimer: See previous.

Author's Notes: I was all excited because I thought I was going to get back on my regular updating schedule last week. But no! fanfic was experiencing and "error" and refused to let me post. So, clearly, the wait for this chapter is not to be held against me.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

oOo

_"Be safe, but if it's impossible, at the very least be mean." -Jiu Jitsu Instructor_

oOo

Hinata was angry.

"I told you, over and _over_ again, how important this was to me. I made it _clear_ that, for just _one night_, I really needed you to act respectful and calm. I made that clear. But could you do it? No! You had to go and _knock Neji unconscious!_ Why couldn't you just be halfway—halfway _normal?_ I mean—I mean—this was really important and—"

"Hinata…"

"Don't talk! I'm mad at you!"

"Hinata. Stop it, if you would just let me explain—"

"I don't want you to explain!" Hinata hollered. Her throat was tight and her face was hot. The party had been going well. She had talked to people she kind of knew, avoided The Pack, and even had an extremely yummy crab thing. Then, there had been a commotion in the corner, and by the time she had gotten there Neji's jaw was purple and Naruto was looking very, very guilty.

That, of course, had been followed by their immediate humiliation and expulsion and, coupled with her father's frosted glare, it had been enough to lose the air-tight hold she had on her temper.

It had only been pushed over the edge when she realized Naruto was her ride home.

"Hinata," Naruto snapped. "If you would just listen—"

"No!" She snapped back. "You haven't even _apologized-_"

"Then I'm sorry!"

"You certainly don't _sound_ sorry!"

"Well I'm not!"

"That's it! Pull over!"

Naruto snorted. "I'm not just going to leave you someplace in New York."

"I'd rather be out there than in here with _you._"

"Like you're such great company right now! I mean—I don't even know why I spend all this time on a girl that's—that's completely incapable of feeling!"

"Well I'm _feeling_ right now!"

"I mean, I tell you I _love_ you—"

"You show it."

"And you say you need to _think_ about it?"

"I just wanted to be sure!" Hinata yelled, and to her horror realized there were tears prickling at her eyes. "You _said_ it was fine! You _said_ you understood that—!"

"What was I supposed to understand? That you didn't love me?"

"No!"

"What then?"

"That I wanted to make sure!"

"Of _what?_"

"Oh, forget it!" Hinata spat, unlocking the door. "Just _forget_ it!" She unbuckled her seatbelt as they neared a light, and all but kicked the door open, stepping out onto the cold pavement and stalking off.

She heard Naruto yell something at her, but she turned the corner and kept walking. Her feet hurt from the heels, but she ignored them. Her apartment was less than a block away, but Naruto wasn't going to come another _half a block_ closer than he absolutely _had_ to be.

Her eyes blurred, stinging with tears, and she sniffed to keep them in.

_This is absolutely ridiculous,_ she thought, rubbing at her arms. The wind blew right through her thick coat. Figured. _He behaves like an imbecile and then blames _me _for it? Always whining that I need his _protection._ Well I don't need his protection! I don't even want it!_

"Ooh!" Hinata screeched, and kicked a can out of her way, nearly overbalancing in her ridiculous heels. This night, this whole—this whole_ thing_ was a debacle and she wasn't about to go back and _apologize_ for yelling at him. He had deserved it, every last bit of it. So what if she hadn't told him she loved him? She wanted to be sure, and now she most certainly _was._ Naruto was the most pigheaded, ridiculous, controlling, annoying, overly-energetic, individual she had ever met without a brain in his _head—_

She never heard anyone moving up behind her, never saw the hand come down on the back of her neck or the sack being pulled over her head; never heard the roar of the truck engine as she was dumped in the back of a pick-up and driven away.

She only felt the sudden pain in the back of her neck, and then nothing.

oOo

Her head hurt.

Groaning, Hinata blinked open her eyes. They felt heavy and gummy, almost bruised, and throbbing. She blinked against bright light streaming in through dirty, broken windows, set high into a wet concrete wall. There were twisted shapes of rusted metal piled in a few corners, a few old pipes dripping down the wall, and huge steel girders ran from floor to ceiling every few feet. Chains dangled from the ceiling, ending in heavy hooks.

Confused and cold, Hinata pulled her head away from the wall with a squelch—her hair style must be ruined—and tried to lessen the strange ache in her arms. They rattled when she moved them.

A pair of handcuffs chained her to one of the pipes. She jiggled them uselessly for a few moments, but all that did was make her wrists hurt. The metal was tight on her wrists, tight enough to pinch.

Hinata's thoughts moved like they were flowing through chilled molasses, and she found it hard to piece together simple things like where she was and why. Her head hurt, her arms hurt, and her dress was too thin. She was so cold…

She woke up again with a start, not sure how much time had passed. It was darker in the room—warehouse, she realized—but there was still no one there. She was thirsty.

"Hello?" she called out, barely a squeak in that gloom. "Is anyone there?"

She had been kidnapped only once before in her life. She had been five years old then, snatched from the park and loaded in a car. She had spent three days in a room with some woman watching her. The woman had no tongue, and Hinata had seen the stump wriggling when the woman yelled at her. She had been terrified, but all they had wanted was money, and her father had been willing to give it. They hadn't hurt her.

If the bruise on her arm was any indication, these men had no such compunctions.

_Okay,_ Hinata thought, stretching out her legs and standing on them shakily. The pipe rose up above her head to disappear in the gloom, and she was chained so that she could stand. At least they had left her that. _I can stand, if I get desperate there _is_ water here… but the plan is not to get desperate. The plan is to get out somehow._

_Now I just need to figure out how._

She looked back at the pipe, at the handcuffs. There must be a weak spot in the chain or the pipe that she could exploit. It was like the jujitsu move Ino had taught her, how to pull away when someone had a grip on your hand. You didn't push at the fingers, but at the thumb—the weak spot.

_There_, Hinata thought, seeking eyes locking onto the sixth link of her handcuffs. The metal had tempered badly, more brittle than the rest, and half frozen from lying against the cold pipe. There was a chip in the pipe, so if she put the link _there_ and applied pressure _here—_

Hinata winced at the noise as the link gave way, landing heavily on her bottom from the rebound. She blinked hard, her eyes watering from the landing, and when she opened them again the room seemed much darker. She wondered if one of the street lamps outside had died.

_Okay, _she thought, standing slowly and looking around. There was no change; no one was coming to investigate the noise. _So I wake up too late this morning, have to go shoe shopping, have to get ready for the party, actually have to attend that miserable excuse for a social gathering of pre-pubescent monkeys, and then my boyfriend—former boyfriend—knocks out my cousin. After which I'm kidnapped and chained up in a warehouse where there is apparently no one to hear me scream._

_I've had better days._

She sighed, and tried to loosen the tight hold of the cuffs. The metal still pinched her wrists, but not being chained to the pipe was a big step in The Plan. Technically, it was the only step in the plan so far, but it had worked. That was the important thing, wasn't it?

_I can do this_, Hinata thought determinedly, picking her way carefully across the dark floor. _All I have to do is find a door, get out, and find a phone. Where's my purse, anyway? Gone. Maybe that's all they wanted?_

Nearly tripping over a steel girder, Hinata finally made it to a tiny door rusted into the wall. It opened just before she reached it.

_Wrong door_, Hinata thought faintly, backing away slowly from the man that slithered through. He was tall, with dark lank hair and slitted yellow eyes. His skin was a chalky alabaster, with strange purple markings near his nose. His clothes looked expensive, a dark silk suit with a bright purple waistcoat. His step was graceful, slow, and sent a shivery feeling all through her.

Definitely not one of her best days.

The man clucked his tongue a few times, shaking his head sadly. His tongue was strangely long, and forked. "Well, well, well," he said, his voice a dry rasp. "This is an unexpected development."

Hinata backed away slowly as he approached, trying not to be cornered against a wall or fall over from the treacherous footing. _Very poor choice of footwear_, she thought, stumbling over a loose rock to the man's scornful laugh. _I am never wearing heels ever again._

"Stay still," the man purred, trapping her eyes with his. Her muscles turned to steel, one foot half-lifted from the floor, frozen feet not even trembling. Panic started to creep up Hinata's throat, as the man stopped in front of her, drawing a dark, sharp nail across her throat. Goosebumps crawled along her skin.

_I can't move, I can't move, I can't move. Okay, this is bad. This is very, very bad. Why can't I _move?

"I am Orochimaru," the man said, pressing his nose to her neck and taking a deep breath. She couldn't even flinch away. "And you, my dear, are bait."

Hinata wanted to ask for who, but her tongue wasn't moving either. Complete paralysis, but her muscles were still rigid enough to keep her upright. She had never heard of something that could do this. Was it some kind of drug? Some trick?

"But," he said loudly, pulling away and smiling. His teeth were sharp, filed to points. "Bait is not interesting if it just sits around, is it? Hardly a point if it doesn't get the blood boiling, hmm?"

Hinata's heel hit the floor hard, and she gasped with relief as she could finally move, scrambling back from Orochimaru in terror. Her breath came in harsh gasps, and she stared at him with wide eyes. _He's insane_, she thought. _Completely nuts._

"Run," Orochimaru ordered, glee evident as he took a step forward. "Go on. I'll give you a head start."

Hinata took a hesitant step backward, whirling as a door opened behind her. Orochimaru gestured for her to go through.

"Five seconds is fair, wouldn't you say?" he asked. Hinata took a step back, and he didn't follow. Another, another, another.

_That was four seconds_, she realized.

Orochimaru took a step toward her, smiling.

She turned and ran, and his laughter followed her into the hallway.

oOo

Author's Notes: And finally Orochimaru has been introduced!

I know, it's a little bit of a cliffie, but I've almost got the next part written. It just needs come major tweaking. So, please review and tell me what you think!


	26. Fight and Flight

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Authro's Notes: Finally! The continuation. I'm sorry this is late. My brain was consumed by read The Girl from Whirlpool (which you should read!) and I forgot to update. Yes, it's that good. Also, I didn't want to update until I had replied to all the reviews, and with my internet connection being as wonky as it is that took a while...

Thanks to all who reviewed!

oOo

"I'm not shy, I'm just quietly plotting your imminent doom." -Unknown

oOo

"_I needed to think about it_," Naruto mimicked in a high falsetto, weaving in and out of traffic on his way home. He laid on his horn when a semi tried to cut him off, and nearly got his bumper clipped for his trouble. "I just wanted to make _sure._"

He punctuated that word by screeching onto the off ramp and sweeping around the corner, accelerating down the bright street four miles to home.

"You haven't even _apologized_," Naruto snarled, slamming his car door and stomping into the house. He slammed the garage door behind him too, shaking the wall. "Well I'm _not_ sorry, and she's _not_ going to get an apology that—"

"Not sorry for what?" Sasuke asked, straightening from his perusal of the meager contents of the fridge. He opened a yogurt—a _yogurt!—_ as if everything was calm and natural and good in the world.

Jerk. Stupid Sasuke. Stupid yogurt. Stupid _world_.

With a put-upon sigh, Sasuke set his yogurt aside and leaned against the fridge. "What happened?"

"Hinata," Naruto snarled. What more explanation did anyone need? The woman couldn't even explain herself! "Stupid _Hinata._"

"Hn," Sasuke grunted. "How long did you drive around before coming home?"

"A few hours," Naruto admitted, stomping into the dining room. He threw himself into a chair, laid his head on the table, and glared at the wood. The grain made weird patterns. They had a weird table. They should get a new table.

"The time frame fits then I guess," Sasuke said, taking a seat next to him. "I've already heard the run down on your little tet'a'tet, so don't bore me with details."

Naruto looked up, outraged, fully ready to rip Sasuke's tongue out, to see a piece of thick, expensive paper with gold cursive script dangling in front of his face.

"Hinata got out of your car _after_ saying she didn't need your protection. The system you have set up to make sure Orochimaru doesn't get her snapped after she refused the protection you gave her. This came twenty minutes ago. They've had her longer than that."

Naruto's brain kicked into overdrive, crunching up the information and shelling out the necessary bits. _Protection broken. Hinata vulnerable. Orochimaru has her._

_I'm going to kill him_.

"This is a trap you know," Sasuke said, tucking the note in his pocket and standing to follow Naruto out to the car. "They're going to try and kill you."

"You coming or not?" Naruto asked shortly, glaring at Sauske over the roof of the car.

Sasuke smiled that smile that had the Vikings pee their pants and run in the other direction. "Oh, I'm definitely coming. Wouldn't miss this for the world."

oOo

Hinata's bare feet slapped painfully against the cold concrete as she ran, skirt hitched up around her hips so that it wouldn't get caught on the tumbled pieces of metal and rock clogging the floor and dripping from the walls. The only light came from the occasional spill of moonlight and streetlamps from dirtied windows. Many of the windows were broken, leaving sharp shards of glass to add another treacherous element to the already tricky terrain. Already she had a few cuts on her feet, but she only understood them in the terms that it was leaving a blood trail for Orochimaru to follow.

When he deigned to follow. He was herding her as surely as a shepherd herded his sheep, popping up with his tongue lolling out of his mouth and screaming boo! whenever he felt she needed to turn. She didn't understand how he kept getting ahead of her. Or how when she was running so quickly, her breath hammering as hard as her heart, she could only hear him walking behind her and he never seemed out of breath when he stepped in front of her.

She looked over her shoulder, and there he was, stepping over a fallen bit of concrete like he had all the time on the world, yellow eyes trained on her. He licked his lips.

She turned forward again, setting her shoulders. So he was herding her, and every step she took brought her closer. She might as well turn and face him now. The one chasing her may be some kind of illusion, to make sure she didn't turn around, so that the real one could pop up in front of her. She knew the one that popped up was real. She had run into him too many times for him not to be.

She rubbed at one arm in remembered disgust. He had _licked_ her.

The dark shadow of a doorway was ahead. Another chance to steer her somewhere. She scanned the ground for a weapon, any kind of weapon, and chanced upon a thin steel rod that looked light enough to lift. She snatched it up as she ran, straight to the door, and at the last moment she doubled back and swung with all her might.

It connected with a resounding _clang_ against Orochimaru's hand. He had closed the gap between them in the time it had taken her to pick up the pipe and turn. He squeezed, and the metal shrieked in protest as it was crumpled into the shape of his fingers.

_What kind of freak is he?_

Hinata jerked back, and he let her keep the rod with a chuckle. He nodded to the door behind her. "Through there. That's the way out."

She didn't dare glance behind her. What if it was some kind of old furnace, or just a black hole? What if had someone hiding in there, ready to bash her head and set her up for another run from a different part of the factory? Is that what they meant to do with her? Chase her around like a rat in a maze until she was too tired to move? What would they do then?

"Through there," Orochimaru repeated, putting his hands on her shoulder and turning her around. He shoved her, and she stumbled toward the door. Now that she had stopped running, she realized how tired she was, how much her feet ached. "Go on."

_What choice do I have?_ Hinata thought. Maybe if she caught him by surprise, but hurrying in and finding a place to hide…

She ran, stumbling, and once again his laughter followed her as she jogged into a room even bigger than her original holding cell, but cluttered with long metal assembly lines and a tower of boxes along one wall. Other bits of machinery she couldn't name were jumbled all together in here. Lots of hiding places.

She hurried to the nearest plausible one, an old air conditioning unit with the grate torn off. It looked like a good place to catch her breath.

She climbed inside, and tried to calm her breathing, listening. He had given her a five second head start again. She could hear him come into the room, leather shoes clicking on the floor and humming something.

She was pretty sure it was the Darth Vader theme song, but she was afraid if she thought about that too closely she would break down into hysterical giggles.

"Hide and seek," Orochimaru mused, moving around the room. She could see him as a faint shadow on the far side, moving slowly and pausing only to let his tongue taste the air.

Like a snake. She shivered.

"Come out come out wherever you are!" Orochimaru sing-songed. Something brushed against Hinata's cheek, and she froze. It had felt like… scales…

She slid her eyes to the side, trying to see what was touching her in the darkness, and saw a slitted yellow eye half the size of her own staring back from not a foot away.

The snakes tongue rasped against the corner of her mouth, and it's tail slithered across her back.

Hinata screamed, not caring that Orochimaru heard it, pushing herself away and smacking her head on the metal. The snake hissed as it dropped to the floor. It opened its mouth, fangs sharp and glistening. Hinata screeched again, and hit it on the head with her fist as hard as she could. Then she grabbed it by the tail, thinking nothing but that she _had to get it away from her._

She snapped the snake like a whip, getting at least its head away from her, but to her great surprise there was a popping noise, and the wriggling body went limp. The snake's head had snapped off, and blood spattered against the side of the air duct. She could see its glazed eye, staring at her from outside, neatly severed from its body.

With one last screech, Hinata threw the body away and scrambled out of the tight metal box, climbing on top. There could be _more_ snakes in there. Even Orochimaru had to be better than snakes.

Almost immediately, she was proven wrong as a thick tail batted her down from atop the box, and sent her sprawling across the floor. Something cut her arm, and hot blood flowed from the gaping wound. She half-cried out, but cut it off with a jagged sob.

She crawled away one-handed, clutching her arm to her chest. Something slithered next to her, and she rolled just as the tail of the biggest snake she had ever seen slammed into where she had been.

With an eye larger than Hinata's body, the snake coiled away for more than a hundred feet, its dark scales seeming to absorb the light rather than reflect it. Its head rose high above her, and its fangs were easily as long as her legs.

"Well," it said, in Orochimaru's voice. "I didn't think you would kill one of Naga's children."

_The snake is talking to me_, Hinata thought. _In Orochimaru's voice. And Orochimaru isn't around which means Orochimaru just turned into an impossibly large reptile. …That's it. I've snapped, I've gone insane. I'm going to be shoved in a white coat and strapped to a table where they'll do horrible shock therapy to help my delusions…_

"Stay still," said the Orochimaru snake patronizingly. It lowered its head, opening its jaws wide.

At that moment, Hinaat remembered the really horrible fact that snakes ate their prey whole and then let their stomach juices dissolve them. Dead, that would be bad enough. Alive…

She screamed as the mouth descended, and at the same time there was a screech of tires on road and the wall exploded inward. A second later a car slammed into the snake, sending it rolling.

"Hinata!"

_Naruto._

Hinata didn't think she had ever seen a sweeter sight than Naruto jumping out of that car and running to her. Didn't think she'd ever heard a more joyful noise than the terrified yell of her name as fell to his knees in front of her. Never felt anything more perfect than when he pulled her into his arms and held her.

"Everything's going to be okay," he said, smoothing her hair from her face tenderly. "He's not going to hurt you anymore."

"You came," Hinata said, and honestly nothing else mattered to her more at that moment than the fact that Naruto had come to get her. She didn't care how he had found out or how they were going to get out, all that mattered was that he was here. "Oh, Naruto. I'm so glad to see you. I love you, and I feel really bad about earlier, and I love you, and I'm really glad you're here."

"What?" Naruto asked with a shaky smile. "It only took a giant snake about to devour you to admit that? I should have stopped by a pet store ages ago."

Hinata laughed, or maybe she cried. Little flecks were beginning to bounce around in her eyes. She felt disconnected and cold, exhausted and hurt—exultant. Naruto was here.

There was flash and a bang in the background, and she thought Sasuke might have grown wings, but that didn't matter either, and then everything drifted away like she was a balloon and all her strings had been cut. Up, up, up, into the night sky where everything was darkness and tiny points of light. Higher still, up and up and up, until everything faded away.

oOo

Waking up was a miserable experience.

Hinata's head ached, her legs ached, her arms and feet burned… in fact, it seemed the only part of her that _didn't_ hurt was her fingernails and the tip of her nose. She also had a _nasty_ taste in her mouth, and she could smell the bitter tang of blood and sweat.

Why was she like this? She struggled to remember. She had been… kidnapped? That sounded right. She had escaped, but someone had seen her and come after her and then… she had fallen? Was that how she had hurt herself? She couldn't remember.

What she _did_ remember was that Naruto had come to rescue her. That part was hazy, though. He had driven through the wall and hit the snake—no, the man—why had she thought of a snake? Especially a snake that was well over a hundred feet long and could talk…

She knew that was impossible, but something inside of her insisted it was real.

"Hey, are you awake?" Naruto asked. Hinata blinked open her eyes and smiled at him. He beamed at her, and settled into a chair beside her bed. "How are you feeling?"

"I hurt," she croaked honestly. "But it's not too bad. Could I have some Motrin?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Naruto said, scrambling around for a few moments. He handed her a glass of water and four pills. Hinata downed them in one swallow.

"So… how much do you remember?" Naruto asked, taking her hand in both of his, running his thumb back and forth across her wrist.

"Not much," she said. "It's all kind of fuzzy. I remember being kidnapped, waking up chained to a pipe, but I escaped and had to run and then… it gets really fuzzy then, and after that I remember you. You came to get me."

"And you admitted you loved me," Naruto reminded her. "No take-backs."

"That part," Hinata said. "I remember perfectly."

Naruto's smile was blinding, and as he kissed her Hinata had the uncomfortable reminder that she was, well, gross.

"Um," she said, pulling back. "Naruto. Well, that is…" How was she supposed to tell him that she was pretty sure she smelled bad, and tasted bad, and that she would really like a shower? And breakfast. Breakfast sounded divine.

"What?" Naruto asked blankly.

"I kind of need… well, a shower wouldn't be…"

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Right! I'll bet you're hungry too, huh? Granny is fixing pancakes, I think. Are you sure you can get up?"

"Yes," Hinata said. _Granny's? Is that where I am? His grandmother's house? Why in the world would he take me to his grandmother's house?_ She shifted under the covers, and blushed at a sudden and horrifying realization.

"Naruto," she said, trying to keep her voice steady and conciliatorily. "Where are my clothes?"

He stared at her for a moment, his eyes flicked down to the covers and back several times, and his mouth gaped. She waited patiently, but no sound came out.

"I think you broke his brain," someone announced drily. A blond woman, who couldn't have been any older than her late thirties, flounced into the room and plopped herself on the bed. She wore sweats and a bathrobe, her hair in two girlish pigtails, her large breasts all but falling out of the flowered cotton. "Hi, I'm Tsunade. I'm your doctor."

"Oh!" Hinata said. "I hadn't realized… thank you. I'm sorry, I'm Hinata Hyuuga. It's nice to meet you."

Naruto seemed to finally recover, and scowled at Tsunade. "Hi, Granny."

"Granny?" Hinata asked.

At the same time Tsunade snapped: "Don't _call_ me that you little brat!"

A quick scuffle ensued, which Naruto lost, and Tsunade kicked him out of the room, slamming the door in his face and flashing a victory sign.

Hinata watched silently, trying not to smile and failing. Tsunade quickly wiped that off her face by bullying Hinata out of bed and into a shower, leaving a set of clothes on the counter and a warning not to strain her arms too much. Her feet were mostly fine now, just a little tender, but the stitches in her arm shouldn't be put under too much strain.

Hinata obeyed, carefully unwrapping her arm and showering. The hot water felt fantastic against her tender skin, and the soap helped scrub away the nasty mess she had become.

By the time she emerged from the shower she felt like a new woman, clean and fresh without any of the terrors of yesterday prowling over her shoulder. Breakfast was even better. The pancakes were the best she had ever tasted.

But even surrounded by the light atmosphere of Tsunade ragging on Sasuke, and Naruto laughing, and being clean and safe and fed, Hinata couldn't shake the feeling that she had forgotten something important—that there was something the rest of the table wasn't telling her.

But then Naruto was leading her into the living room and snuggling her into his lap, and Hinata happily forgot everything else except the feel of Naruto's arms around her.

oOo

Author's Notes: And thus we see that changing a person's memory is not only unethical and cruel, but also extrememly annoying!

I hope you liked this, but if you didn't I want to know. So... please review!


	27. To Kill, or not to Kill

Disclaimer: I do not own a Naruto, I've never even seen one. But I can tell you anyhow I'd rather lock-him-up-and-never-let-him-go than own one.

Author's Notes: Some people have been requesting a long chapter with some whoopage from Hinata. I now present to you that chapter. Enjoy!

oOo

_"Okay, this is stupid, childish, and dangerous. Let's start on three." -Anonymous_

oOo

The bell over the shop door tinkled softly as Sakura came in, shutting out the warmer spring weather behind her. The sweet smell of the flower shop filled her head, sprays of roses and hibiscus crowding for attention among the cluttered shelves between purses and jewelry. Ino's flower shop, and Ino herself behind the counter, cleverly managing to sell not only the two dozen roses the woman had come to buy, but also a purse and three necklaces. She nodded to Sakura, and held up a finger to show she would be with her in a minute.

Sakura nodded and wandered around the shop, admiring the bouquets and fingering the new displays. She had gotten a new purse in that Sakura was eyeing with interest when Ino snuck up behind her and slipped her hands over Sakura's eyes.

"Guess who," she sing-songed.

"Um… let me think… Kristi Yamaguchi?"

"I don't _think_ so!" Ino laughed. "Can you see me fitting into one of those sparkly costumes without being sewn in? But hey," she said, letting her hands drop. "Good to see you."

"Good to see you too," Sakura said, hugging her tightly. "It's like you dropped off the face of the planet! When was the last time I saw you? Why haven't you been returning my calls?"

"Sorry," Ino said, pulling Sakura farther back into the shop. "I've been really busy and… well, I've been busy."

"Busy," Sakura said doubtfully, following the blond ponytail into the backroom and leaning against a petal-strewn counter. "Too busy for three weeks to even send a 'hi-how-are-ya' text? Because I've been busy too, and I've found the time."

Ino scrunched her nose and arranged some hyacinths into a towering bouquet. "It's been crazy is all. Holly…" she trailed off, and snapped off the end of a flower with a particularly violent flair.

"Is she alright?" Sakura asked worriedly. "She's okay?"

"She's fine," Ino sighed. "She's with her dad. I've been working with the schools to get her transferred."

Sakura blinked stupidly for a moment before her brain kicked back into action and got past the thought, _she's with her _dad?

"She's with her _dad?_"

Okay, so maybe her brain hadn't gotten very far off the topic.

"Yup," Ino said. "In Texas."

"O-kay…"

"It's best for her there."

"O-kay…"

"She's happy."

"O-kay…"

"She's going to get to go to a great school, and she likes Temari, and I'm planning a visit soon."

"O-kay…"

"Stop saying 'okay' like that!"

"Okay," Sakura said, not sure what else she really could say. "Um… what brought this change on? You've barely had any contact with Shikamaru since you told him you were pregnant, and now you're letting Holly live with him?"

Ino hunched her shoulders, faced her flowers, and said thickly. "It was for the best. For everyone. Can we not talk about it?"

Sakura approached cautiously, and gave her a hug. Ever since Hinata had dropped into lovey-dovey land a week ago with Naruto, Sakura had been gathering up her courage to go and see Ino. She had thought there would be screaming involved in this confrontation, maybe hair-pulling, but not Ino crying. Ino never cried.

"Hey," she soothed, patting her back while Ino's shoulders shook. "I'm sorry. I won't mention it anymore."

"No, I'm sorry, I'm being silly," Ino said, carefully drying her tears so as not to ruin her mascara. "I just haven't had anyone to talk to about this lately."

Sakura frowned, and stepped back, squaring Ino off and looking her up and down. The woman had lost weight, quite a bit, and Sakura could feel hard bone where she gripped Ino's shoulders. "Ino, I've known you since you punched that kid in the face for me in kindergarten and then made him eat paste," she said. "Something's up here, and I want to know what it is."

Ino sniffed and continued wiping at her mascara. "I—I can't t-tell you."

"You can tell me anything."

"No, I mean, it might be dangerous for you."

"Dangerous!" Sakura shrieked. "Is that why you sent Holly away? Is it the mob? Because I'll take care of that, Ino, I really will. You'll be surprised how many gang connections I've gotten from working in the hospital…"

"No, no, it's not that," Ino said, wringing her hands. Sakura stared. Ino was wringing her hands. Unprecedented. She hadn't even been this upset when the pregnancy test had come back positive. "I really can't talk about it."

"Is there nothing I can do?" Sakura asked sadly, brushing Ino's hair back and wiping a tear. "Nothing at all?"

"I'm getting—I'm getting letters," Ino said hesitantly. "You know, the basic threatening kind. I'm keeping them on my fridge because at first I thought they were funny, like the ones you get from the political parties."

_There, that sounds like the Ino I know._

"But-" her voice broke and went up an octave. "I'm scared, Sakura, and I don't know what to do anymore."

"Come on," Sakura said, putting and arm around her shoulders and closing up the shop. She could feel the ridges of her friend's spine. "You'll stay at my house for a few days, we'll talk to Hinata and see if she has any connections that can help. Her family is like a mob unto themselves. We'll get this figured out, I promise."

Ino nodded, but it didn't look like she believed it.

oOo

"She's with her _dad?_"

"Yeah, I know," Sakura said. "And she actually _cried._"

"Bizarre," Hinata murmured, stirring her Alfredo sauce and checking on the shrimp. Naruto was supposed to be over in an hour to eat, and she wanted everything to be perfect. He had said he had something important to tell her.

"I'm really worried," Sakura insisted. "You should see her. Skin and bones! I sent her to bed and she _went!_ When has she ever done something she was told?"

Hinata honestly couldn't think of any such time.

"Is there anything I can do?" Hinata asked. She set out the plates, but hesitated before she got the silverware. "I could come over. Talk, hug, have a girl's night in. I could bring ice-cream, and make come calls…"

"Thanks, but I don't think she's up to it, and I know you have a special night planned with Naruto. How's that going anyway?"

"Wonderful," Hinata gushed. "Ever since that little kidnapping incident, we've been closer than ever. I haven't gone a day without seeing him recently and," she lowered her voice shyly. "He says he has something important to tell me tonight."

Sakura's squeal was loud enough Hinata almost dropped the phone and barely recovered before it dropped into the boiling pot of spaghetti. "You think he'll pro_pose_?"

"I don't know," Hinata said, toying with her apron and unable to keep the smile off her face. "Wouldn't that be an important question though, instead of something to tell me?"

"You never know! Oh, how exciting. Wait, I'll tell Ino, if this doesn't excite her nothing will."

Hinata waited patiently, hearing muffled footsteps and conversation, and then there some loud static.

"Um," Hinata said. "Hello…?"

"He's proposing?" Ino demanded.

Sakura was right, she didn't sound like herself. But even without another headache-inducing squeal her voice was intense enough to make Hinata think it couldn't be that bad.

"I don't know," Hinata repeated, laughing. "It's just a thought. Maybe he's just going to tell me he finally managed to eat enough ramen to go in the Guinness Book of World Records."

"Totally possible," Ino agreed. "No offense, but your boyfriend is kind of a dork."

"Yeah," Hinata agreed dreamily. "He kind of is."

Sakura and Ino laughed, and Hinata blushed so hard she felt like her face might melt.

"So how long do you have for us to tease you?" Ino asked.

"As long as you need," Hinata lied, remembering what Sakura had said. Maybe Ino really did need a girl's night. "I can—"

The doorbell rang, and Hinata winced.

"That was him, wasn't it?" Ino asked.

"…yeah."

"Go on then! And don't keep us in suspense! If he even has an inkling of getting on one knee then you need to call and put us on speaker phone so we can listen in."

_Hell will freeze over, pigs will fly, and my father will wear bunny slippers first_, Hinata thought. "Um, well, I better get that door…"

"Good luck!"

"Thanks."

Hinata set her phone down on the front hall table, took a deep breath, straightened her pretty-but-I'm-not-desperate dress, checked her breath (minty) and opened the door.

At first, she couldn't find Naruto under the giant bouquet of flowers being shoved in her face, but once she did he gave her a laughing kiss and all but carried her into the kitchen.

"I'm so happy to see you! It's been for_ever_," he declared plopping down at the kitchen table while she got a vase for the flowers. She checked the sauce, it needed a minute, and drained the spaghetti.

"You saw me yesterday," she pointed out, but had to concede that had indeed been too long when he came up behind her and started kissing her neck. She gave in with good grace, turning around and kissing him until the world started to float.

"Mm," she sighed, when he pulled away, opening her eyes lazily. "No more. I've got to get the sauce."

"We have all night," Naruto agreed pulling away.

Hinata busied herself with dinner so he wouldn't catch her fiery blush, but he found it anyway and pinched her cheek. "Cute."

Hinata huffed, saying something about not being "cute" (which was for little girls with pigtails and ribbons) when Naruto leaned in again.

And indefinite amount of time later they managed to seat themselves at the table, though admittedly two to a chair, and engrossed themselves in the horribly-disgusting-lovey-dovey-activity-Hinata-had-_sworn_-she-would-never-ever-do—feeding each other.

"So what was it you wanted to tell me?" Hinata asked, wiping away a spot of sauce at the corner of his mouth.

She could feel him go tense, and had to stop herself from bouncing up and down in excitement. Surely if he was so worried it wasn't just about ramen? Surely it was something like—like—

His phone rang.

There was a moment of tense silence where they both tried to ignore it, and then he went red and pulled it out of his pocket. "Sorry," he muttered. "Just a second."

_Well that killed the mood_, Hinata thought sourly, standing up to clear the table. Naruto's fingers lingered at her waist but didn't stop her. _He better have a dang good reason for _that_, or he is most certainly not going to "have all night"._

"You're kidding," Naruto said lowly. "How come you…? Yeah, of course I do but… Yes. Yes, I _told_ you—! Of course I know how important it is. Don't you _even_… Yes. Yes, I know. And you can't do it? Buck up! No, no, no. …Yes."

There was a period of long silence, where Naruto glared at the wall and Hinata glared at him. She could already tell where this was headed. Every time Naruto got one of these phone calls—and they came more and more often—he had to rush off and take care of something "very important" at the office. Usually she didn't mind, she could understand perfectly the insanity of the business world and had cancelled a few dates of her own, but this was a _special_ night. This was the night when, just once, he ignored that phone call or had the best excuse ever known to man.

From the guilty look in his eyes when he hung up the phone, he had better have had the best excuse known to man.

"Something…" he said, trailing off when he caught the look in her eyes. He looked down at the table. "It's really important."

"What is it?" Hinata demanded. "And don't you say you can't tell me."

He cleared his throat and got to his feet awkwardly. Hinata's glare could have melted his feet to the floor. "There's this guy that's been, uh, embezzling! Yeah. Embezzling. And they caught him but if I don't get there and identify him he could be let go."

"Embezzling," Hinata repeated.

Naruto nodded quickly. "Yup! Big problem. Lots of money went poof."

"Uh-huh. And you haven't mentioned it before because…?"

"Because… Sasuke handles the money…"

"And so Sasuke can't I.D. him because?"

"I'm the head of the company?"

"That sounds like a question."

"Come on, Hina!" Naruto begged. "Please don't do this. I'm second-guessing my _own story_ because you look so unhappy. I'm sorry, really, _really_ sorry I have to go, but I'll be back! It'll only take an hour, _maybe_ two, and then I promise the rest of this time and the next time I will turn off my phone."

She hadn't meant to make him beg, but she couldn't help liking it. She sighed and, ever benevolent, and nodded. "Okay, I'm sorry, I know it's important and… it's just dinner. You go, come back, everything will be good."

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

"You are a goddess," Naruto breathed and kissed her. His phone started ringing again while he pulled away, and she only let him go reluctantly. "Thanks."

"Hurry back," Hinata ordered simply.

He grabbed his jacket and ran out the door.

Hinata sighed and finished clearing the plates, leaving them to soak in the sink. She sat down at the table and frowned, tapping her fingers against the tabletop. Naruto had run out so quickly, and half of his excuse sounded like he'd been making it up on the spot. Why did the call have to come _then?_

Another sigh, and she strolled around to the refrigerator to pull out the strawberry chocolate cheesecake she had made for dessert. She might as well serve it up now…

_Or…_ she thought with a smile. _I could take him a piece…_

She hummed as she wrapped up the two cheesecake slices and filled a thermos for milk. She would go and surprise him! Surely identifying someone didn't have to be done alone. She thought about the look on his face when he saw her, and laughed.

What a surprise this would be!

oOo

Naruto sat in a carved mahogany chair, thumbing a tiny carving of the battle of Styx—which, strangely, had absolutely nothing to do with mythological rivers and everything to do with the beginning move of establishing the office of Kage. The chair was alive with such carvings, each in perfect detail and rendering. The Kage's faces from the First to the three hundredth and twenty-fourth—Naruto himself—were in perfect relief.

Orochimaru's face was carved into this chair as well, a chair that had lasted nearly as long as the Hokage's robes of office, just a little before Naruto's own on the right side of the chair. The lank hair, pointed nose, and even the manic glint in his eye were there, almost alive, and Naruto considered, not for the first time, to scratch the face off. He had tried before though, and he hadn't even managed to scratch the wooden monstrosity with a Rasengan.

He looked up, eyes shadowed by the brim of his hat, at the table around him. Sasuke sat immediately to his right, watching him with hawk eyes that were beginning to swirl into red and black. Shikamaru sat to his left, a clear frown on his face, glaring at the end of the table with undisguised disgust. The head of intelligence looked like he was going to kill something if it twitched wrong.

Down along the table sat all of his most trusted advisors, counselors, and friends. Chouji—not eating for once—was followed by Yamato, Kurenai, Rock Lee, Kakashi, Nagato, Tsunade, and Shino. All of them had their eyes riveted to the figure at the end of the table, hands chained to the polished wood and each finger broken.

Orochimaru smiled, licking his lips with his absurd tongue, and reclined as much as he could in his chair. He was trying to present a cool, controlled front, as if he had even a modicum of control over the situation. The black eye that had swollen the right side of his face and the burns where half his hair had been removed made him a ridiculous figure in Naruto's eyes.

"Read the charges," Naruto ordered. His nail dug into the carving of Orochimaru's face, wishing he could be done with this formality and skip right to the execution. Usually, he withheld from killing—the only reason Sasuke and Nagato had survived to sit at this table—but Orochimaru was a special case.

"Attempted murder of the Hokage through deceit and treachery," Sasuke began. Sasuke had taken the job of reading the charges with particular relish. "The kidnapping of one Hyuuga Hinata, and the subsequent revelation of his Secret."

There were hisses from around the table. Reveal the Secret? It was enough to call for death right there. It seemed a little funny that none of them had been as upset about Orochimaru trying to kill him. But then again, most of the people at this table had tried him at one point or another.

"Human trafficking, the escape and subsequent mental torture of Yamanka Ino-" Shikamaru twitched. "—drug trafficking, human sacrifice that was included but not limited to: pagan rituals, the drinking of blood, and the desecration of the bodies. Stealing the following items: The Hokage hat, six human children and sixteen adult humans, three thousand dollars worth of lab equipment…"

The list went on, and Naruto was almost tempted to tell Sasuke to skip to the end. But that would set a bad precedent. Naruto intended to be the one Hokage who followed procedure and had an honest cause before he killed someone.

Even if the process killed _him._

It took nearly an hour to read through the charges, by which point Kakashi had his porn open underneath the table and Kurenai was filing her nails. Naruto was wondering if Hinata was still waiting for him or if she'd cracked and started their Star Wars marathon early. (He had insisted on the marathon. What kind of person could go through life without watching "these are not the droids you're looking for"?)

"How do you plead?" Sasuke finished, and gulped water for his dry throat.

"Innocent," Orochimaru said breezily. "Unless you have proof of such charges?"

"We have Hyuuga Hinata."

"And she remembers the incident does she?"

"No."

"Then where's your proof?"

Naruto's claws dug into the chair, and he gnashed his fangs. "How about you trying to kill me?"

"Who wasn't?"

"Is that your _final_ answer?" Sasuke asked excitedly. The emphasis he put on "final" was a little too gleeful.

Orochimaru laughed, a sound like snakes slithering in the grass. "I lured you there using your precious girl—your Fire—and I was going to kill you. If the _brat-_" he glared at Sasuke. "Hadn't gotten in my way you _would_ be dead. I would have killed your girl, seconds before you could stop me, and you would be nothing but a shell!"

There was moment of long silence and then Naruto pounded his fist on the table and stood up. "Alright, enough is enough! I declare Sannin Orochimaru guilty."

"All in agreement raise your right hand," Sasuke said.

Every hand shot up in the air without a second of hesitation, and Orochimaru began to look uneasy. He looked to Tsunade, the only member of Naruto's council he knew—perhaps the only one that would ever consider speaking for him—and she stared grimly back. Her hand did not waver.

"This isn't the end," Orochimaru snapped as Naruto formed the Rasengan. "I'll come back! _I am IMMORTAL!_"

"Oh yeah?" Naruto asked, stabilizing the whirring swirl of power in his hand. He noticed a swirl of red in the Rasengan, and knew his eyes were bleeding red, the whisker marks on his cheeks standing out in relief. "Let's test that out."

He lunged across the table, his Rasengan aimed at Orochimaru's head, and the snake's scream covered Hinata's own as she opened the door.

oOo

"_Can you feel the love tonight?_" Hinata sang as she carried the basket full of dessert into Naruto's office building. Judd, the guard on duty she had come to know on her occasional visits, had told her Naruto was up on the top floor in his second office.

Hinata hadn't been aware Naruto had a _second_ office—wasn't one with a view of the entire city enough?—but she thought it must have been the locked set of double doors she had seen once when she had come. She had thought they led to a bathroom or something, and hadn't bothered to ask.

"_In short our pal is dooooomed_," Hinata finished as she stepped off the elevator and walked into Naruto's office. It was dark up here, but just as she had suspected there was light coming from underneath the double doors and she headed that way. She wondered what his face would look like when he saw her…

The doors opened to a massive hallway lined completely in an enfilade of mirrors. The halls, even the ceiling, were massive panels of glass. The only part to be spared was the floor which was tiled in black with different engravings on each individual tile. One was a dragon, its lithe body curled around itself many times and biting its own tail. Another was a phoenix, crumbling to ashes, and another after that a tree cloven in two. Each one looked so real. The dragon looked like it was about to jump at her, and she could almost hear the phoenix's dying cry.

The designs were multiplied and expanded on the mirrors, making the whole hallway into a twisting mass of living pictures, Hinata's small face peering back at her in wonder.

Who knew Naruto had such a flair for the dramatic?

Shrugging, Hinata tiptoed in to the hallway, hurrying down it to the next set of double doors at the end. Light leaked around those too, and she thought she could hear voices, though they were muffled.

The doors were black, with giant gold—though surely they weren't _real_ gold—doorknobs shaped as an intricate swirl.

_Hmm_, Hinata thought. _I don't think I personally would have decorated this way, a bit too flashy, but I suppose if you want to make an impression…_

She opened the door, poked her head in, and screamed.

Naruto—what she thought _must_ be Naruto—was driving some kind of—of glowing blue _thing_ through some poor man's skull as he was chained to the table, unable to move. Brain and blood exploded, bits of bone ricocheting off the walls in pale splinters, as the head broke open beneath the force of Naruto's sphere.

And Naruto himself… red eyed, with claws, and thick scars—three on each cheek, like whiskers—on his face, mouth in a snarl to show fangs.

_Fangs._

Naruto was—Naruto was—

_He's lied to me. He killed someone. He's a monster. Naruto is a murderer. He _lied_ to me_.

That last thought seemed to be the only one she could hang on to, the rest too impossible, and there was a sudden pounding in her skull that made her feel like her own brain was being split apart. And her _eyes._ Her eyes felt itchy and swollen, and—and—

_Naruto lied to me._

There was an explosion of pain and sound. Images flooded back to her, disjointed and out of order but she knew they were _real._ A giant snake, Sasuke with wings, running and running and running and chasing and being chased and turning to fight but losing and—

-and at the same moment, time seemed to slow down. People were looking from the headless corpse to her, shouting and saying words she couldn't hear, but she understood them. She could see the words forming on their lips—_Naruto! Your girlfriend's here! _—and the miniscule specks of dust floating in the air. She could see Sasuke, pale—_Do you see her eyes? That can't be what I think it is—_and Tsunade with more wrinkles than Hinata had ever seen before. _She's going into shock—_and Naruto. Naruto, who looked nothing like the Naruto she knew. Naruto, who had just killed a man.

She could see the hallway behind her—_That's the Byakugan! But how could she?—_even though she was facing forward. Naruto took a step forward…

Hinata dropped her basket and ran.

She expected the world to be confusing, because she could see _everything_, in all directions in prefect clarity. She could see the people chasing after her, inhumanly fast, her own slight form reflected in the mirror above and beside her, but most importantly she could see forward. The exit.

She burst into Naruto's office and was in the elevator, closing the doors before she knew that she had moved.

_Wait!_ Naruto's lips screamed as someone lunged toward her. _Don't hurt her! Let her go! Don't hurt her!_

Her mind was in a fog, still roiling with images of her kidnapping. The elevator moved so slowly and suddenly she realized she could _see_ the cogs whirring and the cables moving as the elevator went down.

_I'm seeing through walls_, she realized. Then, a thought born purely of shock: _Wow. I'm Superman!_

Naruto was taking the stairs, she saw, but the others stayed on top pacing and arguing. They were discussing how unfortunate it was that she had seen, wondering if Naruto would catch her. Naruto was moving fast, much faster than the elevator.

_Will he kill me too if he catches me? I don't know anymore._

She had to think of something. To stay on the elevator could only lead to Naruto, and she couldn't face him now.

In fact, if she never saw him again that would be great.

She had to think. _There, there, there, there, there,_ she thought, eyes shifting slightly as she took in different parts of the building. _Yes, that will do it._

She hit the emergency stop between the second and first floors, slightly closer to the second than the first. She was amazed at the accuracy with which she could do it now. She could see how long the brakes would take to stop, how much closer she needed to be to the second floor than to the first. But she barely paused, she jumped up and pulled herself out onto the roof of the car, then—using every ounce of strength she possessed—opened the doors just enough to squeeze through them. These doors were weaker than the rest, by a faulty alignment that needed fixing, which made for easy opening.

Naruto had gotten to the elevator and was waiting for the doors to open. Hinata didn't waste any time before she was running down the hall to the window. _I'm so glad I changed to sneakers and jeans,_ she thought as she opened the latch and climbed down the ladder on the wall.

She was running before she hit the pavement. Naruto had just figured out the elevator had stopped and was forcing the doors open. The others were still on the top floor…

Shuddering in relief, Hinata stumbled out onto the street and hailed a cab. Her eyes were burning, and as she settled into the back of the cab and stumbled out her address, the clarity of her vision faded to fuzz.

It was only with it gone that she realized how dim and unclear things were. It had looked like day with her eyes like that, but she realized now the sun had gone down nearly an hour ago. Everything was suddenly _lacking._

She took the drive home to readjust herself to normal vision. That sight-_the Byakugan. That's what they called it—_had seemed completely natural. Now she felt like she was trying to see with her eyes closed.

_I'll have to pack,_ she thought wildly as the cab pulled up in front of her apartment. She paid him and told him to wait. She didn't know where she could possibly go to escape Naruto, but anywhere was better than _here._ _Just take the essentials. I'll go to the bank wherever the cab stops and get my money. Then I'll go—I'll go somewhere. I'll go wherever I need to go to get away._

The stairs to her apartment seemed to take forever, and when she was finally able to stumble in to the relative safety of her home her legs collapsed from relief.

She sat there for a few moments on the floor, hand over her mouth and breathing hard as she tried to comprehend it all. The head exploding, Naruto being some kind of freak, her eyes, escaping…

_Escaping. Right, I'm escaping. I need to get moving before he comes._

She thought of this afternoon, when Naruto coming over to her house had filled her with sunshine, and now she felt nothing but ice in the pit of her stomach.

She hurried to her room and pulled out the safety box she kept under her bed. She put that in a backpack along with a change of clothes, her toothbrush, and the contents of her purse. It would have to do.

She went to the door, but paused. She had forgotten something…

Of course.

Into the living room, under that old horrible baseball trophy she had gotten as a child playing on Kiba's team, she grabbed the debit card her father had given her for emergencies. She would draw all the cash from it, use that to pay her way to… was France nice this time of year?

The door slammed, and Hinata pressed herself back against the bookcase, hiding the trophy and card behind her.

It was like Naruto knew exactly where she was. He didn't waste any time searching or peeking around corners, he simply turned into the living room and pinned her against the book case.

He was breathing hard, so was she, and he was close enough that they touched with each inhale and she could smell his sweat from chasing her. His eyes were mostly blue again, the whiskers faint outlines, but there were enough lingering traces that Hinata couldn't possibly pass off what she had seen as a hoax.

"Hinata," he gasped. "Let me explain."

_He did _not_ just say that._

"YOU KILLED SOMEONE!" she hollered in his face. "YOU MASHED HIS HEAD INTO PULP!"

"It was the guy who kidnapped you," he defended.

"You erased the memory of _that_ though, didn't you?"

"Well…"

"You're a freak! Get _away_ from me!"

He had her trapped so that she couldn't move, and he didn't step back. If anything, he moved closer. "Hinata, please, I love you…"

"Get away from me!"

"Hinata, I know I messed up but _please—_"

It almost undid her. She loved him, so much there was an ache of misery in her chest, and hearing him plead with her was enough to start the tears.

For just a moment, she went lax, and Naruto took that moment to lean down, one arm loosening, and bite the junction of her neck and shoulder.

There was no pain, but there was a burst of _something_ in her, like a pocket of her mind had suddenly opened up that had never been there before, and inside that pocket was a million things. Frightening things, happy things, but mostly a knot of tension and fear and love and—

She couldn't think, she couldn't even process her movements, all she knew was that Naruto had hurt her, and she had to get away from him.

Her arm came up, and the copper plated steel trophy crashed into Naruto's temple. It dented with a _crack_, and he crumpled, blood leaking out one ear.

Hinata stood with the trophy still raised high, blood on the corner, and all at once her Byakugan was burning again. She could see the damage in Naruto's brain, blood vessels destroyed, and his heart puttering fitfully in his chest. It spasmed, and stopped.

Just like that. No other warning, no afterthought, no halted intake of breath as his heart started again, he was simply gone.

Hinata lowered the trophy slowly, trying to argue with the evidence before her eyes. Naruto couldn't be—she hadn't—

That corner of her mind that had opened up fell silent, barely a spark remaining, and Hinata dropped the trophy.

She couldn't think, couldn't feel, she didn't know what else to do.

She ran.

oOo

Author's Notes: Wasn't that fun?

I thought so. I actually wrote all thirteen pages of this in about an hour, and was going to post it yesterday but (gasp!) I couldn't log in. Very sad, I know.

Anyway, please tell me what you think!


	28. Acts of Desperation

Disclaimer: Still not.

Author's Notes: I meant to write and post this chapter so much earlier, but I got pretty awfully sick (not good before finals!) and couldn't do anything. Perhaps being sick is the reason this chapter turned out so gory...

Enjoy!

oOo

_"Confidence is ignorance. If you're feeling cocky, it's because there's something you don't know.'" -Foaly_

oOo

"_Ew._ Is he dead? Dad, is he seriously dead? That is so _gross._"

Shikamaru was not having a good night.

"That's a lot of blood. I would measure it at about two pints in a rough guess, and the body only holds four… Are you _sure_ he's not dead?"

It had started out well. He had flown up to New York the day before and spent several hours in a nice hotel room without any responsibilities weighing him down before he had the pleasure of attending Orochimaru's trial and watching the snake's skull being caved in.

That crunching noise it had made was going to have him waking up smiling for weeks.

Then, of course, it had all gone downhill when Hinata Hyuuga had shown up, activated an ability that had been lost for a thousand years, and then proceeded not only to escape, but bash Naruto's head in on her mad dash out of town. They now had no idea where she was, where she was headed, and now that Naruto had died—_again_, which according to Sasuke only left him _three more lives at most_—someone else was eligible to claim the Hokage seat and the city was about to become embroiled in a civil war.

To top it off, his daughter had followed him to New York to see her mother, and his wife had followed his daughter to make sure she was safe.

"It's pretty bad," Temari agreed, crouching to poke at Naruto's face. "But don't worry about it too much. He bounces back. He was _technically_ dead for maybe a few seconds—no heart rate or respirations—but he's tough. He's already healing up."

Oh, yes, and he was going to have to explain to Ino why her daughter now believed in things that went bump in the night.

_Lovely_, he thought in disgust, picking up the trophy that had cracked Naruto's skull and cleaning the blood off its corner. The cat lady across the hall had been the one to find the scene—and Ibiki was going to _pay_ for being off duty—and it had taken every string the Uchiha had known to not get the police involved. That didn't mean Shikamaru wasn't going to conduct his own investigation of course.

On the floor, Uchiha squatted by Naruto, cleaning blood from the other man's face and waiting for him to wake up. If he hadn't known the dark-eyed man any better Shikamaru would have said he was only annoyed with the entire situation, but the worry lines tugging at the corners of his eyes and mouth told a different story. Uchiha was probably struggling not to have a panic attack. From what Shikamaru understood of demon hierarchy Uchiha being Naruto's second meant they had a bond forged through fire that had Uchiha in a treacherous balancing act of best friend, caretaker, and servant.

Of course, that was only his perception.

"So who's next in the Line?" Temari asked, standing up and brushing off pristine cream slacks. She had pulled her hair back in her usual four ponytails to hide the horns humans found so disturbing—according to his wife, Shikarmaru didn't technically _count_ as human with her as his mate—which Shikamaru thought was a shame. Admittedly, the first time he had found them he had been more than a little concerned, but they were actually quite pretty once you got used to them, pure white and sparkly as they were.

Holly kept trying to convince Temari that she wouldn't mind a horn or two as well, but so far Temari was refusing.

"Kabuto," Uchiha answered without a pause. "I'll go after him as soon as Naruto is alright."

"Nah," she said, patting the fan strapped to her back with love. Sometimes, Shikamaru was half-convinced she loved that stupid fan more than she did him the way she doted over it. "I'll find him. I can handle Kabuto."

Uchiha looked like he'd bitten off a week-old piece of mold, but he forced out: "Thank you."

Shikamaru frowned, locking eyes with Temari and tilting his head to the side. She just grinned and flicked his earring.

"Come on," she said. "We can drop Holly off at her mom's on the way there."

"You mean I have to come?" Shikamaru asked wryly. "Joy. What am I going to do, stand in the corner and cheer?"

"Well that depends," Temari said cheekily, winding an arm around him and pulling Holly away from the scene. "How do you look in a mini skirt?"

"Awful."

"Shi—shitaki mushrooms," Temari said, wincing. She tried to keep her language clean around Holly. Shikamaru and Holly both found it rather hilarious.

"Can I call Momma?" Holly asked excitedly as they settled in the car and Shikamaru triple-checked she had a seat-belt on. "Please, Daddy?"

"Sure," Shikamaru passed his phone back. "Here you go."

"Thanks."

Temari waited until Holly began talking to take Shikamaru's hand and let her lips go thin with stress as she threaded expertly through the early morning traffic.

"That bad?" He murmured.

"Kabuto may not be as brilliant as his master, but he's ten times more insane and has a vengeance issue," she whispered back. "I don't know how the dice will fall, but I have a bad feeling in my gut. I'm worried, Shika, really worried."

"Tell me more and I'll come up with something," Shikamaru urged quietly. The last time Temari had been 'really worried' they had spent six months hiding out in Cambodia from a gaggle of primitive gargoyles that only understood them in terms of 'prey'.

Temari smiled at him, running her thumb along his hand, grazing his wrist where her mark resided, linking them.

"Yeah!" Holly said from the back seat. "I'm really here! We're coming over now, we're only like a block away. Dad? Sure, hold on. He's right here."

Obviously, his daughter missed his subtle signs to lie and say he had nothing to with any of this from the solemn way she held out the phone to him and just stared as he drew his finger across his neck desperately.

Temari snickered.

Reluctantly, he took the phone, ready to pull it away from his ear at any moment. Ino could scream louder than any woman he had ever met in his life. Not even _Temari_ screamed as loudly as she did, and his wife could make fog horns sound ant squeaks.

"Hello?" he asked.

"You brought my daughter to New York," Ino stated, voice flat.

"No," Shikamaru defended quickly. "She followed me."

"You allowed my daughter to follow you to New York."

Ah. It was going to be one of _those_ talks. "Yes, I'm very sorry," he apologized humbly. "I didn't realize she would be able to hack my bank account."

"_Don't_ pull that tone with me."

"Sorry."

"I can't _believe_ you couldn't take better care of her! You are her father and you're in charge of her now, you can't just go haring off whenever you like just because you _feel_ like it! You know what I should do is eviscerate you!"

The tongue lashing continued and, bored, Shikamaru held the phone away from his ear and discussed plan on how to take down Kabuto. Some of the suggestions Ino screamed were actually very helpful in planning his demise.

"We strike hard, fast, and _first_," Shikamaru summed up as they pull up in front of the flower shop with Ino's apartment stacked on top. She hung up on him, so Shikamaru assumed she was coming to yell at him in person. "If we can just figure out their location…"

Temari was staring off into the distance, paying very little attention to him, frowning. "Shika," she interrupted. "You know I love you, right?"

"Yes," he said slowly. "As I love you."

"I need you to take Holly and get out of the car, and I need you to do it now."

"Holly," Shikamaru prompted. "Get out of the car, and go to your mother."

Holly was white-faced and small in the back seat, staring between them slowly. "What about you Dad?"

"I'm staying with Temari."

"No," Temari snapped. "You're not. You'll get in my way."

"Forever," Shikamaru promised. He could see what had been worrying her now, a hulking beast of man loping toward them on all fours, sprouting much too much hair to be human. "Holly, go to your mom _now._"

"Daddy…"

"Now, Holly!"

Sniffling, Holly got out of the car and went to the shop, knocking on the door timidly. Shikamaru could see the light turn on in the back. Ino was coming for her.

"Well," he said mildly. "I'm glad we rented a good sized car."

"Me too," Temari snarled, revving the engine and clutching his hand in a hard grip. "Hang on."

With a squeal the car lurched forward, aimed straight at the slavering man-beast as it charged up the pavement. Shikamaru worked the gears for her as they accelerated, operating so smoothly together they might as well have been one person. The headlights flashed in the thing's eye, and Shikamaru was glad for his seat belt as the distance closed quickly. He braced himself for impact—

-and the thing leapt over the car and kept running, right back to where they had left Holly standing in front of the shop.

Swearing, Temari pulled the car into a U-turn so sharp they went up on one wheel, and they were heading back the way they had come ever faster than before, Shikamaru laying on the horn. He had seen large ears, small eyes, the thing relied on hearing. If he could cause enough noise…

"YOU GET AWAY FROM MY _BABY!_"

Ino's voice, and the thing reared back clutching at its ears and howling in agony as Ino grabbed her daughter and dragged her back into the safety of the shop. Temari didn't hesitate, taking the chance to ram the beast straight on.

The crash was deafening, and jolted Shikamaru forward and back so hard his neck cracked and he broke a finger. It would have been worse, if Temari's iron-hard arm hadn't been thrown in front of him. Her own head hit the steering wheel, blood running down her face to drip on her clean clothes. For a moment Shikamaru wasn't sure if the thing would fly or if the car would crumple, but with a snarl Temari pushed against the pedal even harder and all at once the beast was flying away, landing on the pavement hard and bouncing.

There was not even a consideration of mercy. Temari hit the gas pedal again, despite that there was now a crack in the windshield and the front of the car was badly dented. With a bump that nearly broke another finger, Temari ran over the thing. She braked, hit reverse, and did it again.

He didn't know how long Temari spent flattening the monster, but by the time she stopped there was blood forty feet down the road in both directions from the tires and the monster was unrecognizable except as a hairy, flattened mass clogging up the road.

"What was that?" Shikamaru asked hoarsely, wiping the blood from Temari's face. He ran his hands over her shoulders, her neck, her face, making sure she was alright, as she returned the favor. She growled when she found his broken finger, a feral light in her eyes.

"A half-beast," she said. "They can be forced temporarily into a human form, but their true nature is vicious. They're like a big dog, maybe, or a wolf, but they don't fall into the classification of a Were. They're killers, they don't know anything else, they don't want anything else, and they're annoyingly hard to kill."

"Good job," Shikamaru said fervently, and kissed her.

She pulled him closer, angling her chin and gripping the back of his neck. Her hands moved down his chest, and then tangled with his hands, mindful of his finger. Kissing Temari was like fire and spice, he had never been able to find anything else quite like it.

A prickle down his spine was his only warning, and then Temari was pulling away with a look of panic, shoving him back against the passenger side door, right before the world exploded in a haze of pain.

oOo

Ino loaded the shotgun quickly, pushing Holly's curious head back down behind the counter before she crept to the shop door. She wasn't sure what it had been that had tried to attack her daughter, but it was obvious Kabuto was keeping good on his promise to hurt her.

Of course, she hadn't been expecting a savior in the form of a Jeep ramming into the monster and then proceeding to run it over again and again until it stopped even the pretense of twitching.

After that, things had gotten quiet, and Ino had taken the chance to get the gun—unlicensed and extremely illegal—from her safe box behind the counter. She had a smaller gun there too—a hand-gun that _was_ actually licensed—but she felt that this particular situation called for a brand of reasoning with just a little more… _oomph._

There was a shattering noise, and when Ino looked out again the Jeep's windshield was shattered and another of those things was sitting on the upside down car, one huge hand tipped in claws like daggers reaching in and swiping blindly. Blood leaked from the windows, clear even in the spotty light of the streetlamps.

Shikamaru had been in that car.

"Stay here," Ino ordered, grabbing several more bullets and tucking them into her pockets. She would have put a few more between her teeth, but screaming had worked _so_ well the first time…

"Mommy, I'm scared," Holly whispered, pressing herself back against the counter.

"I know, Honey, Momma's scared too," Ino whispered. "But everything will be fine. You just stay here, and wait for me."

Squaring her shoulders, Ino marched to the door and threw it open. She had been hiding in fear from Kabuto for too long, time to show the man that just because she wasn't a freak didn't mean she couldn't kick his butt any day of the week.

It felt good, doing something instead of hiding in the shadows like a scared rabbit. It felt right, it felt good, it felt…

Well, she didn't know anything else that felt like having a really big gun and marching out to pop caps in the face of a big ugly monster. But it was a good feeling.

"Hey!" Ino yelled as soon as she stepped out. The monster was still pawing at the car, making it shake and rattle. "You! Stupid! Yeah, I'm talkin' to you! Where'd you get that pathetic fur coat? A Walmart garbage bin?"

There was a pause long enough for a sharp intake of breath, to lock her knees, and squelch the little voice panicking that this was a _bad idea_—before the monster was charging at her.

_Bang! Bang!_

The recoil was strong, bruising her shoulder, but Ino didn't have time to worry about bruises. Already she was fumbling to reload—_I should have spent more time in the stupid range. But you'd think the guys there had never seen a girl in a skirt before_—and the thing was reeling with two bullets in its chest.

She dropped one of the bullets, and it went rolling away across the sidewalk, but the other snapped into place and Ino fired again, aiming for the heart. The monster staggered, blood matting its chest, howling in rage.

Ino yelled too, drowning out its roar with a soprano designed to cut through the noise of a football field during a touchdown. The thing whimpered, lying down on its belly and covering it ears with its hands pitifully. Ino took the time to reload, and, still holding her note, came close enough that she had a clear shot at the head.

Two bullets in the brain, and the head exploded; its whimpering cut off mid whine.

Ino stood for a moment over the body, breathing hard and wondering if she was ever going to be able to get all the blood out of her blouse. There was such an awful lot of blood…

The car shook, and Ino swung the gun around despite the fact that it no longer held any bullets. Glass crunched, and then Shikamaru was pulling himself out through the windshield, using the tortured steel frame to get leverage.

Ino hurried to help him, pulling him away from the wreckage. His face was all mottled bruises, with a black eyes and his lip bleeding. There was a knot on his head, and his ear was torn from his earring being ripped out. His leg was snapped out at an odd angle that made Ino dizzy.

"Are you okay?" Ino asked, carefully laying him away from the wreckage and letting his head rest on her lap. She should have been doing something, she knew that, but she couldn't remember what it was.

Her answer was a broken moan from Shikamaru's bloody mouth, his limp hand gesturing to the car.

"It's okay," Ino said. "I got it."

Shikamaru shook his head slightly. "Tema'," he whispered. "Tem…"

"Ten?" Ino asked confused. His voice was soft and ragged. She could barely hear him.

He tried again, but this time all she caught was a choked sob, and then he was unconscious.

_Police_, Ino realized. _I need to call the police._

By the time she could hear sirens in the distance Holly had snuck out to join her, plastering herself against Ino's side. It was from Holly she learned what Shikamaru must have been trying to say, but one look at the car told her that there was no way Temari had survived the attack.

She pulled her daughter close, and prayed the sirens would hurry.

oOo

Neji sat in his supple leather recliner, feet propped on a thick ottoman. His laptop was balanced on his lap, eyes narrowed as he studied the picture on his screen. It was blurry, taken over seventy years ago, a grainy black and white that depicted a common day on a Rome street. It would never have interested him if not for the man in the background, turned in profile, smile wide and a clear space opened around him.

Rubbing a finger across his lips, he picked up his phone and dialed Hinata, frowning when it went immediately to her voicemail. Growling in frustration, he snapped his laptop closed and went to get his jacket.

If he was right, that man in the picture was not an ancestor of Naruto's, but Naruto himself, which could only mean Hinata had entangled herself with something she couldn't possibly understand. He didn't even understand it himself, couldn't imagine how it was even possible, but…

He tucked a switchblade into his pocket.

"Neji?" Carol called from the bedroom, and he swore to himself. She stepped out in a tiny bit of silk and lace, her long brown curls dangling over her shoulders and framing her pouting red lips. "Neji, aren't you coming to bed?"

"Something's come up," he said simply, grabbing his keys. "I don't know when I'll be back. Go home."

"But, Neji—!"

"Go home, Carol," Neji repeated firmly. Carol had been all but forced on him the last time he had visited his aunts, but she had held little interest for him anything outside of physical pleasure. Also, she was clingy. He didn't like clingy.

"Fine!" Carol snapped, stomping back to his bedroom in her five-hundred dollar heels. "But I'm not coming back."

"Thank the Gods above," Neji muttered, and hoped she would remember to lock the door on her way out.

It was a quick drive to Hinata's apartment, though he noted with annoyance that it was beginning to rain. Rain always made everything difficult, and he hated being wet.

Nodding to the doorman, Neji took the stairs to the third floor and then strode down the hall to Hinata's apartment. The door hung wide open, and he could hear voices inside, none of which sounded like Hinata. There was a scuffling sound from the other end of the hall, no doubt one of the other families fighting—snot-nosed brats and snarl-faced parents barking at each other over inconsequential details. Neji shook his head. _Families._

He entered into the apartment without knocking, and had to restrain himself from flinching visibly when he saw Naruto sitting up woozily, rubbing at a spot of dried blood on his head, another man sitting back on his heels and watching him like he was ready to catch him if he so much as gave the impression he might fall over.

There was blood on the carpet, a lot of blood, more blood than there should have been if only Naruto had been bleeding.

"Where is Hinata?" Neji snapped, eyeing that blood. What had happened? Had Naruto lost his temper and hurt his cousin? If so, that switchblade was going to come very much in handy. "What have you done to her?"

"I don't know where Hinata is, but she's not hurt," Naruto said, voice slightly slurred. His eyes were dilated, and Neji wondered if those three scars on each cheek had been there the last time Neji had seen him. "Do you know where she is? I have to talk to her. I have to explain."

"Shh," Sasuke ordered firmly. He turned black eyes on Neji. "You're Neji Hyuuga?"

"I am. Who are you?"

"Sasuke Uchiha," he said. "What are you—?"

There was a buzzing sound from the hall, and the lights went dark out there, the only light in the apartment coming from the kitchen. Uchiha was looking past him, swearing, scooping up Naruto and moving him deeper into the living room. "Get away from the door!" He screamed.

But Neji did not move away from the door, he turned around just as black shadow without any seeming substance or form oozed through the doorway and slashed at Neji with a thin finger of darkness.

It was black ice spiraling down his spine, crackling lightning all through his body and doubling him up in agony. With a shout that seemed to last forever—Neji used his last few moments of movement to slam the door closed and flick on the hall light.

The shadow screamed in a high, thin keening, and dissipated. Neji collapsed in on himself, feeling nothing but pain so terrible he could not even scream.

He did not understand when Uchiha pulled him back from the door, flicking on lights everywhere he could, pulling a sword from his back and standing guard. He did not understand when he yelled as Naruto pulled himself over to Neji with a look of determination, laying a hand on his head.

"You're too weak to change him!" Uchiha snapped, slashing at another shadow squeezing itself under the door.

"He'll die," Naruto said simply.

Neji wanted to die. He wanted the pain to end, to be over forever.

"Hold on," Naruto ordered, and the world went white, and the pain did not end.

oOo

Tsunade sighed, stretching her arms above her head until they cracked. Nara was laid out on the table, clothing cut away and looking like a mummy with all the bandages wound around him. His wife lay next to him, but she had no bandages. She had been dead before Tsunade had even arrived on the scene, stomach slashed open and eyes staring. She would need to have the other woman moved before Nara woke up.

On another table a new member to their little group was carefully arranged, bandages wrapped around his head, his suddenly long hair trailing off the table. Naruto had said it had simply grown out the second the bond had been completed, and the man had still not woken. His eyes, when Tsunade had looked, had been bleached of both pupil and color.

There were others around the house, scattered on beds, couches, and cots. Kabuto had wasted no time in launching an attack after Orochimaru's demise, taking almost all of their people by surprise. Naruto had barely had any strength left to warn everyone.

_Naruto_! Tsunade thought, shaking her head as she walked into the living room and collapsed on the only chair left. _That idiot. He makes a bond with Hinata, _dies_, makes a _second_ bond with a dying _human_, and then still sends a message to all of his followers to be on guard._

_The nut._

Fondly, Tsunade smoothed back the bangs from Naruto's face from where he was sprawled out over a couch, snoring. No one else could have ever done what he had managed to do tonight; no one had ever even tried. Making bonds with a human was difficult in the best of circumstances, and he had done it twice in one night. Bonds took more power to build than many wanted to believe. It changed a human, made them into a completely different being.

And Hinata was out there alone, not knowing what had happened to her, not knowing that the bond Naruto had created with her was deeper than she could imagine.

_Bad night,_ Tsunade decided, digging out a bottle of whiskey from her bookcase. _The death toll will probably rise, our leader is exhausted and will probably start going though withdrawal from his lady soon, and to top it off the stopper will not come out of my liquor!_

"Here, let me," Ino said. The blond woman had been the biggest help tonight, finding places for people to sleep and even bullying Uchiha into a bed. She had stitched cuts, made food, and now as she wrestled the bottle open and took a long swig, Tsunade allowed herself to smile a little.

"Good job," she said.

"Thanks," she replied, sighing as she sat down on the floor, leaning against the chair and passing the bottle back to Tsunade. "You mind explaining all this stuff to me? I'm the only one here that seems to be out the loop. Monsters are real, I got that part."

Tsunade chuckled, a lethargy settling in as the alcohol burned the way down her throat.

"Sure. Here's the basics: there's an underground where all sorts of nasty things live, and some less nasty things. A couple thousand years ago a hierarchy was established that made all the People—everyone that's not humans—subject to nine different rulers. Those rulers can do things the rest of our kind cannot. They can make anyone do what they say for one through Orders—not something I'm a big fan of by the way—and even communicate mind-to-mind to thousands of the People at once. Naruto did that tonight, to warn everyone."

"_Naruto_ is this great king?"

"Yeah, that's basically everyone's reaction. Then you get to know him and… snap. He has your loyalty to the ends of the earth."

"Does he have yours?"

"Sadly. Anyway, we've had a lot of different names over the years. There's a lot of different classifications, but the most common name for Naruto and Uchiha are demons. Sometimes djinn, but they're… they're not like Christian demons. More like Japanese, tricky and with weird powers. I technically fall under that category too."

"Awesome," Ino said, and took another long sip of whiskey.

"Yeah," Tsunade agreed. "Try living with it. Anyway, each king has this special someone, their eternal companion, and Hinata was Naruto's."

"Uh-huh…"

"He formed a bond with her to try to convince her to stay or something, but she brained him."

"What's a bond?" Ino slurred, resting her head against Tsunade's leg. Tsunade wondered where Ino's kid was, but a glance at the clock showed the kid was likely passed out under a table.

"Didn't I already talk about that?"

Ino yawned, shrugging. "I don't remember."

"Sleep," Tsunade ordered quietly, closing the bottle and putting it away. She leaned her head back, the alcohol making her head swirl, and closed her eyes.

Everything would be better in the morning. It had to be.

oOo

Author's Notes: Please review!


	29. Of Hyuuga Angst

Disclaimer: I am not God, and therefore do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: Hold on to your hats, people, because you would not believe this writer's block.

I wanted this chapter to be, oh, twenty pages or so and have instead managed to only produce five very, very slowly. It was kind of like going through a meat grinder. I'm sorry that this is so late, and hopefully the writer's block (WHICH I STILL HAVE) will go away soon. Until then, I wanted to post SOMETHING for you.

Thanks to all the wonderful reviewers, and please enjoy!

oOo

"_Instead of a sign that says "Do Not Disturb" I need one that says "Already Disturbed, Proceed With Caution." -Anonymous_

oOo

Hinata sat in a truck stop just inside of Ohio; she sipped a Coke and stared out the sticker-plastered window at the semi trucks parked in untidy rows beneath the overhang. It was drizzling, the sky pregnant with rain but unwilling to release more than a gray fog that clung to the skin and raised the hairs on the back of her neck.

The taxi driver had dropped her off here when she had run out of cash, giving her one pitying look at the shell-shocked expression and red-rimmed eyes before he turned back to New York. He had left her with his card, just in case she ever needed it, and it was tucked into the purse that had somehow made it into her hand during her mad rush out the door after she had—

She shook her head. Hinata couldn't think about that right now, about what had happened to her and to Naruto…

Unconsciously, she reached up to rub at the junction between her neck and shoulder. There was a mark there—one she had stared at in confusion-turned-horror in the tiny, cracked mirror in the truck stop's bathroom when she had arrived. A small, black spiral, almost like a tattoo but too… vibrant, sat in the place where Naruto had bitten her last night. It wasn't simply strange, it was _alien._ Primitive.

Terrifying.

"Hi!" said a woman; sliding into the other side of the booth without so much as by-your-leave, with two coffee mugs and a bright grin. The other woman—brown hair, brown eyes—wore SpongeBob pajama pants and an old gray sweatshirt, boots, and a Yankee ball cap squished over two large buns on the side of her head. The first comparison Hinata could think of was a severely fashion-challenged Princess Leia. "I noticed you had a problem. I think I can help."

"I'm… sorry?" Hinata squeaked as one coffee was pushed toward her; the woman started ripping open packets of sweetener and dumping it into her own brew.

"Sorry, I'm Tenten. Tenten Rosen, and I think I can help you with your problem." She said. "Because unless you have a thing for weird tattoos—and you don't look like you do—then you've got a demon problem." Tenten smiled with all her teeth. "And I can take care of that problem."

Hinata squeaked.

Tenten eyed her calmly, sipping her coffee like she hadn't signaled the end of the world as Hinata knew it, bouncing her leg beneath the table.

"I—I don't have a problem," Hinata finally managed.

"No?" Tenten asked. "Then where are you staying tonight?"

"Well… I'm not—I haven't—"

"Do you have wards to protect you?"

"No…?"

"Then, sister, you've got a problem," Tenten said, and leaned back in her chair like that settled everything.

Hinata looked around, hoping no one was listening. There were still quite a few people out this evening (what time was it anyway? Eight PM? Nine?) and a low buzz of chatter kept conversations private. She lowered her voice anyway, and Tenten leaned in conspiratorially.

"I killed him," Hinata whispered, face burning with shame. "Accidentally. I hit him with a trophy. His heart stopped, I saw it, and then I ran."

Tenten stared at her, not in horror that she had just admitted to killing someone, but in consternation. "And he got you before you got him, huh?" She said, gesturing to Hinata's neck. "I've seen those marks before, nasty pieces of work. Lets the demon track you wherever you go, lets it feel what you're feelin', sometimes even think what you're thinkin'." She shook her head. "You're in a bigger load of crap than you know, Honey. Demons don't go down easy, and if I had to guess I would say that yours ain't as dead as you think he is. You didn't happen to dunk him in gasoline and drop a match on him did you?"

"Of course not!"

"Then he isn't dead. What kind was he?"

Hinata blinked, in shock from the both the suddenness of the conversation and the topic. Naruto wasn't dead? She hadn't killed someone? "…Kind…?"

"You know. How close was he to the boss?"

"Um," Hinata said articulately. "I think he is—was—_is_—the boss."

Tenten whistled lowly, and sank into her seat, shaking her head. "That's it then," she said. "You have three options."

"What?"

"You can either go back to him so he can kill you quickly," Tenten said, checking off her fingers. "You can sit like a goose and wait for him to come find you and kill you—"

"I don't think he would kill me," Hinata said, almost in tears. "He said he loved me. He said—" Her voice broke, and she couldn't go on.

Tenten looked sympathetic for the first time, and slid out of the booth. "Come on," she said, taking Hinata's hand. "Let's go talk about this in the truck."

oOo

Naruto was a little groggy when he woke up.

Actually, he was a lot groggy, and maybe felt like he'd been run over a few times and Sasuke had given him A Thousand Years of Death with a Chidori, but he'd had worse.

Admittedly, he couldn't think of a _time_ when he'd had worse, but he was sure it was out there.

"Ah, you're awake," someone said. Naruto opened his eyes, bleary from sleep, to see Baa-chan hanging over him, one hand on his forehead and smiling. Sasuke hovered just over her shoulder, frowning.

"Oi," Naruto said. "You look even grumpier than usual, Sasuke."

Sasuke scowled, opened his mouth—no doubt to yell/scold/worry—but Tsunade forced it shut with her hand.

"He's weak," she said firmly. "He needs some time."

Sasuke nodded jerkily, and pouted.

"Where's Hinata?" Naruto asked, probing for that space in the back of his head that was now reserved for her. It felt cold and empty, distant. The bond connected him to her, letting him share her feelings and thoughts when they were close and tracking her when she was far. But the bond was new and weak, untested, and he thought she might have even tried to cut it.

Which hurt. Okay, maybe he could have explained better—or at all—but severing a bond… it was just… it was just…

"We don't know," Tsunade said. "We've figured out she's not in the city and we're trying to track down her taxi driver now to figure out where he dropped her off."

"How long have I been out?"

"A full day. You'll fall asleep in about a minute."

He could feel that. Exhaustion dragged at his bones, but something had woken him up, something important…

"Neji," Naruto realized, fighting dragging eyelids. "How is he?"

"He's good," Tsuande said. "He's really good. He woke up about an hour ago, and he's… adjusting."

"I need to… talk… to him…"

"You can talk later," Tsunade said firmly. "Sleep."

He slept.

oOo

Neji locked the door to the bathroom door behind him, shakily finding his way to the sink and gripping either side tightly. His legs felt like jelly, and his head was heavy with a desire to sleep. But this was the first time he had been able to get away from the doctor and the multitude of people milling around like lost, mindless rabble throughout the cramped apartment, and he couldn't let the chance slip past. He had to know, he had to _see_, what Uzumaki had done to him.

Uzumaki… the name struck something within him now that it had not before. Knowing the man had risked his life to save Neji's own had brought on a certain feeling of kinship, but the whisperings of blind loyalty that now invaded his mind and body he could not claim to be ordinary. Naruto was a constant thought in his mind, a presence that always lingered but never intruded, and every time Neji thought of him he felt a fierce tug of—he wasn't sure _what_ it was, actually. But the closest he had been able to word it was a feeling of belonging, of _home._

And that same sense also whispered that if Naruto asked, Neji would slit his own wrists without a breath of hesitation.

His fingers trembled, and Neji took a long, centering breath. He was stalling now, avoiding the reflection he could see from the corner of his eye. A long strand of hair trailed over his shoulder, hair that had been in a proper buzz only yesterday.

Neji looked up, and drew in a sharp breath that wanted to be a scream.

He touched his face, unsure it was even his own anymore, looking for any traits that were still his _own_. And… yes, there was the small scar by his eyebrow he had gotten from a sharp rock on a fishing trip as a boy. And… there. The freckle on the left side of his nose, the shape of the eyes, and the height of the cheekbones, all were still his own.

But his eyes… slate grey with flecks of silver had melted into a pearly luminescence without a pupil. They almost shone, like two moons trapped, and his gentle, probing fingers proved they were still his own. His eyes were almost as bad as his hair—he had never even had hair chin-length, and now it swung past his shoulder blades!—but easily the most shocking part of his transformation was the green symbol smoothed into his forehead.

It felt like skin when he touched it, but cooler than the surrounding flesh, almost like a tattoo but too _alive_. A stylized X with two curling lines to either side, shockingly green, and utterly ridiculous. He shook his head, trying to sweep away the new image of himself.

This was impossible.

A quiet knock on the door startled him from his examination, and he glared at the intrusion. Couldn't they leave him alone for five minutes?

"Hyuga," Uchiha said from the other side. "I know you're in there."

Neji turned away from the door as if that would make a difference, studying the shell-pink bathroom with distaste. Pink was a wretched color.

"How do you like the new look?" Uchiha asked callously. "The mark is certainly something."

"What does it do?" Neji asked, fingering the mark again.

"We don't know. We think it's something left over from the _Kokouban_ that attacked you. The shadows."

"You don't seem to know a lot of things."

"No, not anymore."

Neji was silent, understanding the frustration Uchiha must be going through now. Having your entire empire overturn in a night… he could sympathize.

"Hinata has dropped off our radar," Uchiha continued. "We tracked her to a truck stop in Ohio, but any trace of her was long gone. We think she's found some help."

"Hm," Neji said, refusing to add anymore. He was _not_ going to contemplate his cousin now.

Uchiha sighed. "I'm leaving for a few hours. Would you like to get out of this fake saccharine sardine can or play tiddlywinks with the annoying blond kid?"

Neji opened the door, and did not look in the mirror as he followed Uchiha out.

oOo

Author's Notes: Please, please, please, please review!


	30. This is Uchiha

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: And so the writer's block is conquered! Thanks for all the encouragment and understanding from everyone. I really appreciate it! Now please enjoy this chapter. The next one should be quite a bit longer, but I wanted to post something in celebration of actually being able to post!

oOo

Hinata ripped open a packet of Twinkies and handed one to Tenten. The woman accepted it with a smile and a nod, chomping down on half of it with abandon. They were in Kansas, travelling through the Flint Hills, which they both agreed had to be the most boring land ever created. The scenery consisted of grassy hills, barely touched by the green of new spring, a few gullies and ditches, and cows. That was the extent of the attraction, and while it had been picturesque and serene for the first hour, the monotony was beginning to make them bounce in their seats.

"So we've played every car game known to man," Tenten said. "A few that shouldn't be played in the car, have worn out our iPods, and the radio stations suck. I guess now's the time to talk."

"Finally!" Hinata gasped. "Why are you helping me? Where are we going? Why is there a bazooka under the seat?"

"I'm sorry, but all questions must be submitted in writing."

"Come on, Willy Wonka! Talk!"

"I'm surprised you got the reference."

"That's a movie where you're either a part of the cult or a wannabe."

Tenten grinned, a dimple in her right cheek. "I totally agree. And the bazooka is for self-defense."

_At least one answer. That's a start_, Hinata thought, relaxing a little in her chair. They had been on the road for two and a half days now, and Tenten had been completely reticent when asked any direct question. Even indirect questions were met with superior silence, and a roll of eyes.

"Okay," Hinata said. "And our destination?"

"I've heard France is lovely this time of year," Tenten sing-songed.

"_France?_" Hinata demanded. "_France?_"

"Where there is _French_ dressing and _French_ toast and _French_ bread, yeah."

Hinata sagged in her seat, staring out the windshield. She was silent for several moments, trying to wrap her mind around the concept of not only leaving her friends, family, city, and home behind, but also her country.

"France sucks this time of year," Hinata said finally. "It's cold."

"I like the cold. We'll get coats."

"And my other question?"

"Mmm," Tenten grunted, chewing on her lip. "I don't want to tell you. I get… crusty and unhappy when I tell that story. Let's just say I've been in your situation before, except worse, and I found my way out. I don't want that to happen to you. It shouldn't happen to you."

"Okay," Hinata said. "That's fine. Thanks for telling me."

Tenten laughed suddenly. "That's it? That's all the questions you've managed to come up with in two days?"

"You've kept me distracted!"

"True," Tenten mused. "I am a genius like that. Come on now, let's get to know each other a bit better. Twenty questions! And if we weren't driving, there would be shots involved."

Hinata was very glad they were driving.

"What's your family like?" Tenten asked, and laughed again at Hinata's face. "That bad?"

"Extensive," Hinata corrected gently. "And expensive. My sister and cousin are the only ones I really like. My father and I had a falling out a few months back."

"Over what? If I can ask."

"No, it's fine. He just didn't appreciate my new-found independence."

"Ah. I know the type."

"Could I…" Hinata trailed off hopefully, swallowing hard when Tenten raised an eyebrow. "Could I call my si—"

"No."

"But—!"

"No," Tenten snapped, cutting her off. "You have no idea how dangerous it is, how quickly they will get you, if you call someone. Or even if you _receive_ a call."

"I can't receive a call!" Hinata snapped. "You threw my phone out the window!"

"Best thing for it."

"You are incredibly high-handed."

"And proud of it."

Hinata made an angry noise and glared out the window at the unchanging landscape. _The rude little brat!_

Tenten sighed, turned on the radio and was silent for many hours after.

oOo

"_You're wondering. What is a place like me doing in a girl like this?_" Evelyn said, swaying drunkenly on to Rick's shoulder.

"_Yeah, something like that._"

Sakura threw her empty popcorn bowl at the screen, half-screaming in frustration. Usually _The Mummy_ provided her catharsis as she laughed at the ridiculous plot and even worse graphics while also dissecting the laughable construction of a "human body". Really, the mummy guy moved without muscles? Puh-lease.

But tonight not even Brendan Fraser's eyes were providing any sort of help with the situation. Two hours ago a policeman had knocked on her door to question her about Hinata's disappearance.

Up until two hours ago, Sakura hadn't known Hinata was gone.

She had paused her movie and answered the door to a young, mustachioed man with a serious expression. He had spent the next hour and an half trying to talk Sakura out of hysterics and charging off right then to find out where Hinata had gone.

The only positive side was that she was relatively sure she was off the suspect list.

Snarling to herself, Sakura punched Ino's number into her phone for the thirtieth time that night and, for the thirtieth time that night, was sent to voicemail.

"_Hi! This is Ino Yamanaka. I hate messages, so don't leave one after the beep! Thanks!_"

"PICK UP YOUR PHONE!" Sakura yelled into the receiver, and threw her phone across the room too.

She stood there, chest heaving, face red, hands clenched into fists and growling for a good minute before her knees finally gave out and she collapsed onto the couch and sobbed.

oOo

Sasuke sat down on his own bed for the first time in a week, allowing his shoulders to relax a little. Naruto was in the next room, already sleeping again—not that Sasuke could understand how Naruto could sleep when his painted-orange walls practically glowed—and allowed the quiet, the dark walls, the Spartan furniture to sooth him.

It had been a very long week.

Leaning back against the pillows, Sasuke pulled out his phone and fiddled with the screen. He had been putting off this last call for a reason—the sheer horror of having to call his brother and ask for _help_ actually made him sick to his stomach. He hadn't been able to eat all of yesterday, and for the few woozy times Naruto had pulled himself out of his snoring match with Tsunade he had commented on Sasuke's sudden Halloween costume of a ghost.

But at least Naruto was waking up and making some semblance of sense now. He would be fine.

_He'll be fine_, Sasuke reminded himself for the umpteenth time. Sasuke's failure couldn't be overlooked, maybe even couldn't be forgiven, but at least Naruto was alive and the city was safe.

_You're doing it again_, he thought to himself. _Just call him!_

Taking a deep breath to still his nerves, Sasuke found the number and pressed call.

It was very nearly physically painful.

The phone rang once, twice, three times, before Itachi picked up. "_This is Uchiha."_

That was how Sasuke answered the phone, too.

_Mental note: Change how I answer my phone immediately._

"_Hello_?" Itachi asked. "_Anko, if this is another prank call I _will_ fire you…"_

"No," Sasuke finally managed. There was a lump in his throat—a lump made of shame, failure, and utter humiliation—that he had to work around before he could speak. "No, I'm sorry. This is Uchiha-"

_Well that just blew that mental note to Africa._

"—I was just calling to inform you of a situation that may possibly affect you in the near future."

"…_Sasuke?"_ Itachi asked in surprise. "_It's not a holiday."_

"No, there's a situation," Sasuke muttered, feeling the beginnings of guilt in his stomach again. He didn't _only_ call on holidays. He _didn't_. It's wasn't like Itachi didn't have a phone too!

"Of course," Itachi said. "I apologize. I wasn't expecting—hn. What's the situation?"

"Naruto died, Kabuto took over, we drove him out of the city just yesterday. But Naruto's found his…" Sasuke wasn't exactly sure what to call Hinata. Lover? Fiancée? Girlfriend? Mate? "…female interest, I suppose. But things didn't go well and we can't find her. I was hoping you could—help."

"_Kabuto took over? Are you alright?_"

Sasuke blinked stupidly for a moment. What kind of a question was that in this situation? He had been expecting a diatribe on his life maybe, a reminder that Naruto was his responsibility, even a cheerful recitation of his past failures. Concern did not compute. "Of course, I'm fine. That doesn't matter-"

"_It matters._"

Sasuke was silent, floundering and trying to pinpoint when this conversation had deviated from the topic. The lump in his throat had swelled up as well, and he had to clear it before he could speak.

"Alright. Well, I can send you a photo of the girl if you like and her other personal information. Naruto is moaning about her."

"_I'll see what I can do,_" Itachi assured. "_Is there anything else I can help you with, Sasuke? Anything at all?_"

"No, no, we have everything under control here. We expect a visit from the Kazekage soon for his sister's funeral, and he is willing to accept temporary guardianship of the area until Naruto is back on his feet. It's really all fine…"

Sasuke shut up, squeezing his jaw closed. He was rambling. He couldn't remember the last time he had rambled like such an idiot.

"_Alright. When did the woman disappear?_"

"Six days ago."

"_...Ah._"

"I should have called sooner."

"_You were busy, it's understandable._"

"Hn."

"_And you're doing alright?_"

"I'm fine. …How are you?"

"_Fine_."

"Good."

"_Yes_."

Silence. Sasuke fiddles with a loose string in his coverlet, making another mental note to get a pair of scissors and take care of it. Loose strings were horribly untidy.

"_How would you feel about spending Christmas here?_" Itachi asked suddenly. Sasuke was shocked to identify the tone as nervous. _Nervous._ He didn't think he had ever heard Itachi nervous about something.

Still, Sasuke hesitated. They may have called a truce, but there had been so many years when all they had focused on was murdering the other. Sasuke had lay in this very bed imagining Itachi's gruesome and horrible death at Sasuke's hands. It had made things awkward between them at best.

"I'll see," Sasuke said honestly. "With all the upheaval this year may not be best…"

"_Yes. I should have thought of that._"

Sasuke scowled and ripped out the string. Itachi sounded ridiculously disappointed. "But… but maybe… you could come here."

"_Hn._"

"If you want."

"_It's a plan._"

"Okay."

"_I'll speak to you later._"

"Okay."

"_Goodbye._"

"Bye."

Sasuke stared at the phone in his hand for a moment, and then his palm and face met with a _smack._

oOo

_Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!_

Sakura's smile grew wider with every time her fist met the door. This was the first time all week she had been able to let out her anger on someone _else's_ property.

"Yes?" Sasuke snapped when he opened the door. "What do you want?"

_Disheveled_, Sakura decided, eyeing her friend up and down. Sasuke's hair stuck up wildly in the back, and he had dark purple rings under his eyes made darker by his white skin. It looked like he hadn't seen the sun in days. His black suit and tie, usually immaculate in the most untidy of circumstances, were crinkled and looked slept-in. His mouth was tight, narrowed brow making permanent lines in his forehead, and his eyes… his eyes looked not only tired, but defeated.

Yet he still managed to look sexy. Sakura wondered if he had taken classes, and where she could get them.

"Doughnuts," Sakura explained, holding up the paper bag and shaking it under his nose. "Along with fresh tomatoes-" she wriggled a separate bag, "and I even managed to find you some prescription sleep drugs. They're technically for me, but I won't tell if you don't."

Sasuke eyed the bag with the medicine disdainfully. "That's illegal."

"It's like speeding. It happens so often no one but the police care anymore. 'Sides, it's just sleeping pills. It's not hard narcotics, and I'm going to monitor your intake." She shook the bag with the doughnuts again. "Come on, Sauske… Chocolate…"

He sighed, but stepped aside. "I don't like-"

"Dark chocolate," Sakura corrected as she stepped in. "I found a great place that makes doughnuts to order."

Sasuke shook his head in wonder, locking the door behind her. "You realize its three o' clock in the morning?"

"Yup."

"What if I'd been sleeping?"

"You weren't."

She watched as Sasuke decided if it would be worth the effort to argue with her, decide against it, and show her into the kitchen. She set down her load on the table, and then rummaged through her sacks.

"We have to be quiet," Sasuke informed her, starting a pot of coffee. "Naruto isn't feeling well."

"That's too bad," Sakura said, shaking her head. She sucked on a tooth, frowning down at the table and wondering whether or not she should even bring this up. She had come here because she thought Sasuke might know something, but he looked like he was stressed out as it was…

_But I _need_ to know!_

"Okay," Sakura said, turning around and nearly bumping into Sasuke. His kitchen was tiny at best, and he had moved closer to get to the food. Sakura cursed silently. Disheveled and he _still_ smelled nice. "What happened to Hinata?"

Sasuke sighed, backing away to lean against the counter and frown out the window. It was beginning to rain, a dull pounding echoing on the roof of the house and lit by the light of the kitchen.

"Sasuke, I swear, I need to know. I don't know what's happened to her. A missing person report has been filed and I talked to the police. They said there was a massive disturbance at her house—that the door was kicked down!—and that she just disappeared. Please, Sasuke, please. Tell me."

"I can't tell you much," Sasuke said quietly. "I don't know if she's safe, or if she will ever come back, and I can't tell you why she ran. I don't where she is, but I have people searching for her. I don't…" he trailed off, staring out the window with stoic repose.

But Sakura saw the defeated slump to his shoulders, and wasn't fooled.

"Thank you for telling me," Sakura said. "Thank you for looking for her. I know that if anyone can find her, it's you, because you're willing to do anything for a friend."

He snorted crossly, and went looking for mugs. "What gave you that idea?"

Sakura grinned. "I think it had something to do with starting a cross-country search party for your friend's girl."

"Hn," Sasuke said eloquently.

Sakura laughed and wrapped her arms around him from behind for a hug. His spine went so straight she thought for a second the coffee pot had electrocuted him, but she held on until he relaxed and reluctantly patted her arm. "Even you need hugs, Sasuke. Now eat your doughnut and maybe you can have a vegetable afterward."

For the first time in over a week, Sasuke allowed himself a small smile.

oOo

Author's Notes: Next chapter will include France, Shino, and a very sad funeral.

Please tell me what you thought!


	31. Tenten's Story

Disclaimer: You ask a stupid question...

oOo

"_I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow_

oOo

Gaara nodded politely to Chiyo and helped her creaking bones down from the podium before taking her place. There was barely a dry eye among the sea of mourners after Chiyo's speech.

Gaara's eyes were dry—eyes holding only a thin wisp of silent, personal grief beneath a veneer of disconsolate guilt. Kankuro—for the first time in his life not wearing eyeliner—was on the first row and sobbing dejectedly as Temari's casket was closed. Shikamaru Nara sat beside him, shoulders and head bowed in open misery and smelling strongly of alcohol. Temari would be so disappointed to see how her death had affected them.

"God," Gaara began, voice strong. "Knows the time for all things, the season in which all things must happen. Temari was his daughter, she fulfilled her purpose in His plan, and hers was a brave death to protect the ones she loved. She was my sister, my mother, my friend," he paused, feeling the stirrings of sadness threatening to make him into a blubbering idiot. He repressed them as best he could. "My confidant. And all who knew her can attest to her being a woman of uncompromising intelligence, wit, and enduring compassion. She was, and will forever be, the angel that guides my life. God receives her into His hand with joy, and so with joy we say goodbye as she returns to Him."

He stepped down from the podium to more sobbing, and Temari's casket was carried out by the bearers. The attendees followed, Kankuro moving slowly to join them, but Shikamaru remained unmoving on the bench, staring down at his broken hand.

Gaara motioned Kankuro on, and stood in front of Shikamaru, head cocked to the side and staring.

"Are you coming?" Gaara asked.

"I—" Shikamaru took a shaky breath. "I canshn't."

"Is that because you're so drunk you can't move?"

"No."

Gaara remained silently in front of him for several more seconds, before lifting Shikamaru's head by the hair and slapping him soundly across the face. A red handprint bloomed in perfect definition along the other man's jaw line, and hazy brown eyes widened in shock.

"That is what she would have done if she could see you," Gaara explained, letting go of Shikamaru's greasy head and wiping his hands. "I will not be stepping into her shoes again. She lived a long life, a good life, and her death was her choice and a great deal her fault. You are partially to blame," Gaara continued. "You're too smart not to know that. But you should also know the ultimate blame, and the most blame, lies with a man you have dealt with. Now, come."

"Thank you," Shikamaru said, managing to sound mostly sober. Gaara had to help him from the church to the graveyard, and they stayed beneath the clear blue Texan sky until everyone else had long since left, staring at the insufficient stone reminder of a woman far beyond the words—Temari Subaku: Loving Sister, Perfect Wife, One Woman Army.

oOo

_Three Months Later—Late June._

Hinata stared out through the screen at the near-empty, trash-strewn street and tried to catch a cool breeze. The customary haze of cigarette smoke lent the buildings a yellow coat of slime, baked on by the unyielding sun above. She wore a coat of sweat, and desperately took a long drink from her lukewarm water bottle, wishing the ice chilling in the freezer would harden just a little faster. It was three o' clock in the afternoon, and most everyone had retreated indoors except a woman in a blue wig tugging along a gasping poodle and a homeless man in a ratty jacket that was giggling to himself. The rest of the street was almost eerie in its abandonment, an aluminum Cola can rolling down the street seemed like thunder.

"It's so hot," Tenten moaned, fanning herself slowly with a bit of folded newspaper from the deeper shadows within the house. "Why did I want to come here?"

"I don't know anymore," Hinata moaned, peeling her face from the screen with the decision that the breeze fairy wasn't granting any wishes soon. She missed New York. New York was never this hot, she was sure, and it snowed there all the time… "Let's go to Siberia next."

"Uhn," Tenten agreed.

There were several moments of silence while Hinata stretched out on the floor and stared dully up at the whizzing ceiling fan. The fan was a joke—all it did was move hot air around.

Closing her eyes, Hinata counted sheep in a vain attempt to go to sleep. If only it weren't so very hot, she could doze off and wake when it was cooler…

There was a ringing clang from outside, and then the door slammed as Shino came stomping back inside and dropped his wrench on the floor. Sweat stained his clothes, and Hinata wished for the thousandth time that he would take her advice and lose the long sleeves and hood in the middle of summer.

"I am a researcher," he announced quietly. "I know nothing of air conditioning units. I… have failed you."

"Oh. No, Shino!" Hinata assured him. "You're fine! It's fine!"

At the same time Tenten snapped: "Why did you volunteer if you know nothing? Get out of my way. _I'll_ fix it."

Grumbling under her breath, Tenten snatched up the wrench and strode outside muttering about incompetent people under her breath. Hinata smiled weakly at Shino, and patted the floor next to her. "Come on, sit down. Take a load off."

Shino sat; shoulders hunched after Tenten's sharp comment, and tried not to look as pitiful as he felt. He failed horribly; projecting an air of kicked-puppy-dog the likes of which Hinata had not seen since Naruto had broken that vase at—

Well. Since.

"She didn't mean it," Hinata assured him, patting Shino's arm. "She just gets upset some times, you know? It's the heat. It messes with her head a little. She also has, um, allergies! Yes, _bad_ allergies, and all this smoke is making her a little fussy. That's all, Shino. Really. Don't let a harsh word get you down!"

"Okay," Shino muttered, and hunched a little more.

_Right_, Hinata thought, sighing silently, _okay._ She had known Shino in high school—they had even been close for the last two years of that torture session—but Shino had always been more reserved, quieter, than others and when his parents moved to France they had mostly lost contact. An email here, a call there, certainly nothing she had thought lasting enough that when they had first landed in France, three long months ago now, that he would be willing to take in the two waifs that had called and begged for locations on a cheap motel. Despite that, Shino came to pick them up from the airport, drive them home, brushed off Tenten's casual suggestion of him being a complete psychopath, and let them stay in his tiny, cheap apartment.

Hinata had referred to it as "quaint" and "practical". Tenten hadn't referred to it as anything at all, and when she learned he was studying bugs—keeping them in the apartment—her lips only disappeared for a brief moment.

"Do you miss New York?"

"Mm?" Hinata asked, shaking herself out of her daze.

"Do you miss New York?" Shino repeated, in that voice of his pitched just above a whisper. Apparently, loud noises disturbed the bugs.

Hinata thought about it for a moment, staring at the frantically spinning fan. "Yes," she admitted finally. "It's nice here, of course, I like it. But I miss home. I miss my family and friends there, my house, my job, the cold…"

"Your boyfriend?"

Hinata closed her eyes and saw Naruto's face, grin dimpling into one tan cheek and eyes sparkling with mischief. "Yes. I miss him very much."

"Oh," Shino muttered. Hinata kept her eyes closed so she didn't have to catch the flash of disappointment on his face.

With a sudden hum, cool air flooded the house, and Hinata screeched in joy. "Tenten, you _genius!_"

"I hit it," Tenten said happily, coming back inside and shutting the door against the heat. "Repeatedly. I guess something was loose and I jiggled it back into place."

"Good work," Shino offered.

"Thanks. Um, sorry about being a jerk…"

"I'll blame the allergies."

Tenten stared at him blankly, looked to Hinata—who did her best to shrug innocently—and finally just settled for flopping down on the floor and soaking in the wonders of modern day climate control.

They were all quiet for several long moments, just soaking in the cooler air and murmuring in delight.

"Oh, we're moving, pack up," Tenten announced casually.

"Moving…?" Hinata demanded, sitting up. "Why?"

"I've killed five demons all looking for you. Today, I kill one right outside which means they know where we are now. And I may have killed it, but I don't know it didn't pass the information on. I'll ward Shino before we leave, and once they know we're not here they'll leave him alone."

"I—I didn't k—know," Hinata stuttered. "Um…"

"That's all right Tenten," Shino said. "I was moving back to my family's chateau soon anyway."

Both girls were silent for a moment, until Tenten ventured: "You have a chateau?"

"Of course."

"Then why do you live _here_?"

"An experiment," Shino said, as if it was obvious.

Hinata resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and got up to find her bag. If they were going to leave, they might as well do it now. Before someone else came—someone else that looked harmless but _blew up doors._

Tenten followed her into the extra bedroom Shino had given them and leaned against the wall. The bedroom was cramped, barely large enough for their two suitcases and futons, and Hinata had to maneuver carefully to avoid stepping on miscellaneous bits of Tenten's stuff left out over the floor and bed.

"The next place will be more permanent," Tenten explained after she shut Pinocchio. Pinocchio was their door, and Hinata had named it in honor of the Pinocchio complex the piece of cardboard seemed to have. It always wanted to be a real door… "I've been setting it up for a couple of weeks now."

Hinata pressed her lips together and turned to face Tenten, doing her best to maintain a very serious look on her face. "Tenten, I would appreciate if you would include me in the planning. And _tell_ me when things happen. Like the _five demons hunting me down_ about which I knew _nothing_ previously would have been nice to know!"

"Why?" Tenten demanded, jerking her suitcase out from the rubble. "You just would have been scared and worried. I was just trying to protect you."

"I appreciate it," Hinata said through gritted teeth. "But what I would have done was use the tools you've given me! What's the point of me learning how to handle a gun if I never use it?"

"You shouldn't have to," Tenten said firmly.

"Tenten," Hinata said, taking the same tone her father had always used when he wanted something. "Please, tell me what happened to you. Why are you doing all this for me?"

Tenten groaned and stuffed a hairbrush into her suitcase. "Because you're innocent and I don't want anything bad to happen to you that would take that away."

"What happened to you?" Hinata repeated firmly.

The sound of city life started reawakening outside their window as the hottest part of the day slipped by, and Tenten crawled over on Hinata's bed so that she could see out onto the street. Hinata turned to face her, watching, and finally Tenten nodded to herself. Still not looking at Hinata she said: "Don't make fun of me if I cry?"

"Never."

"Okay. I… I was sixteen," Tenten began, eyes distant. "I was on holiday with my parents in LA. We were staying in some cheap little motel, and I was coming back from the pool when… when _he_ saw me." She took a deep breath, let it out slowly.

"He was beautiful," she admitted, closing her eyes for a long moment, imagining him. "Dark eyes and a cocky smile and this _aura_ around him that sent chills down my spine… He talked to me and, like an idiot, I let him corner me behind a vending machine. I'd never been kissed before, and he was handsome, so I thought… Anyway, it was nice enough until he started touching me. I tried to push him away, but he wouldn't go, so I kneed him in the groin, punched him in the nose, and ran."

"I didn't think he would follow me," she continued. "So I went up to my room, trying to wipe the blood off my knuckles. My parents were hippies—in the worst sense, by the way. My real name is Flower of Heaven's Love. It's actually on my birth certificate. Tenten is my middle name. I got it from my mom's side of the family—"

She cut herself off with a wince, eyes snapping open. "Sorry. I ramble."

"It's okay," Hinata said quietly. Naruto had that aura too, sometimes, the same cocky smile… "It's fine."

"Right. I went back to the room and the next thing I knew I was being slammed against a wall and he bit me-" she pulled up her sleeve to show an intricate snowflake on her bicep. Looking closer, Hinata saw the snowflake was actually made from tiny, detailed swords, whips, and knives. "Leaving me with this. He left me on the floor, went into the room, and killed my parents. He didn't want them to compete for my affections. He showed me their heads…"

Hinata shuddered, patting Tenten's knee comfortingly and earning a smile.

"That's an old wound now. Then he took me away, to some big house, and we lived—I say lived. It was more like I just existed—there together for two years. He really wanted me to develop Stockholm, but I was resistant. He didn't like resistance."

Tenten idly traced a fine network of scars around her arm. Hinata hadn't even noticed them before because they were so faint, but now that she knew what to look for she could see them on Tenten's neck as well, and she would bet a lot more were hiding beneath the white T-shirt she was wearing.

"One day, he turned his back and I ran. I stole the car and drove and drove and drove as far as I could. I hadn't been around normal people in two years, my clothes were ridiculous and money? Money was a joke. But one great thing about hippie parents is that they know just about everyone, so I stayed with some of their friends. I worked, I got some cash, I bought a gun and learned how to use it, I researched, and I waited for the day he would find me again."

"It didn't help."

There was a dark look in Tenten's eyes now, and Hinata shuddered.

"He came, and no matter how many times I shot him he just got up again. He broke my arm and then nearly killed me. But I held on, and when I was better I had a plan. He took me away again, but this time I was ready. I knew what I needed to do. I got anything that could be used as a weapon—a sharp stick, a piece of broken glass, some rope, matches, gasoline, even a knife, and when he left I got ready. When he came home he had a noose around his neck, a knife in his heart, and a gallon of gasoline on his head. I set him on fire, then I chopped up the body and scattered the bones."

"Zealous," Hinata managed after a minute, and Tenten laughed.

"Yeah, not exactly a trophy to the head huh?" she giggled. "Anyway, after that I decided I was going to devote my life to killing demons. And now I'm pretty darn good at it."

"Okay," Hinata said. She wasn't honestly sure how much of Tenten's story had registered, how much anything had registered. Her mind as in a desultory fog, everything that came into it got lost and only bits and pieces found their way in. Had Tenten said she had hung the man—the thing?

"In short," Tenten said, clambering back to her bed and smushing an axe into her suitcase. "Demons are sick, I hate them, and I don't want that to happen to anyone else. We good?"

"Thank you," Hinata said, laying a hand on the woman's arm. She touched the snowflake, and Tenten flinched, but Hinata only moved her hand away and summoned a smile. "Thank you for telling me. We're good. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"You had a right to know," Tenten muttered, fussing with her fingers. She sniffed, and turned her face away, scrounging together the last of her amenities. "Let's get packing, huh? We have a long day ahead of us."

oOo

"Long day?"

Shikamaru grunted in acknowledgment, falling onto Ino's thin couch with a loud groan. Holly laughed in delight as Shika's head landed on her, and pulled on his ponytail.

"Dad!" she exclaimed. "You came! I knew you would come, no matter how late you worked. Sit up, sit up! I want you to watch this movie with me!"

It had become something of a tradition over the last two months since Shikamaru had moved back to New York for him to drop by on Friday nights and spend some time with Holly. This usually led to him also seeing her all of Saturday, a good deal of Sunday, and he even got to text her during the week. He wasn't willing to push Ino much farther than that right now. She allowed it because she knew he needed family right now, so soon after Temari, and even tried not to be grudging.

So Shikamaru used the last of his remaining energy to pull himself up into a seated position, snuggle Holly into his side, and stare blankly at some show on the T.V. about matter manipulation.

He was so exhausted he couldn't even follow the relatively simple conversation on fusion, and realized his eyes kept falling closed.

"Hey," Ino said, leaning over the back of the couch. She pressed a mug of coffee into his hand, smelling strong enough to remove tar, and he nodded his thanks. It was warm, but not hot, and he downed the entire mug in three long swallows. Holly watched in awe, taking his cup from him when he was done and trying a drop. Her face puckered instantly.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed, holding the cup away from her in disgust. "You _drank_ that?"

"Never again," Shikamaru assured him as the taste lingered in his mouth. He almost never drank coffee—it tasted like tree bark—but he had the feeling he wouldn't have been able to get home without the extra kick.

Ino laughed and brought them both a glass of chocolate milk, settling down next to him with a groan. "What is this?"

"C-span?" Holly admitted guiltily.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Alright! How does everyone feel about Kung Fu Panda?"

Holly sighed, but agreed, and Shikamaru shrugged.

"Kung Fu Panda is one we can agree on," Holly explained as Ino set up the DVD. "It's so stupid we can just laugh and I don't have to notice the horrible inconsistencies with reality. Like Star Wars I can't watch. I mean, sound in space, really?"

"Not to mention the blatant disregard for all other possible laws of physics," Shikamaru agreed. "Now, what exactly is _this_ movie about…?"

Two hours later Holly had finally gone to bed and Shikamaru was actually considering another draught of the horrible coffee. He was falling asleep where he sat, and he still needed to get home…

"Stay," Ino offered as she saw him trying to lever himself off the couch. "I'll grab a blanket and pillow for you. The couch might not be the most comfortable thing in the world, but it'll do for one night."

Shikamaru yawned, thinking the couch looked like the most comfortable thing in the world. "Sorry…"

"You don't have to apologize all the time you know," she said, grabbing a blanket from the closet. "I mean, I don't mind having you here or anything. Believe it or not, I've known you a while now, you're a good friend, it's really not a problem."

Shikamaru eyed her askance, toeing off his shoes. "U-huh. What do you want?"

"What makes you think I want something?"

"Well, believe it or not, I've known you for a while now. You're a good friend…"

Ino laughed and threw a pillow at his head. He let it him in the face and fall on the couch, following after it until he was stretched out. The couch was too small for him, but if he hung his feet off the end it wasn't too bad.

"Hey, before you sleep," Ino said, turning off lights. "Have you… found anything?"

Shikamaru didn't need to ask what she was talking about. She asked every time he came over. "She was in France," Shikamaru muttered. "Apparently, Neji learned this two weeks ago, but didn't tell on the basis that he thought it was a family matter."

"That _snake,_" Ino hissed, which had become a high insult in her book. "That rat-faced, no-good, lazy sonuva—"

"He's apologized, he won't do it again," Shikamaru said. He could still remember Naruto's face, pale and disbelieving as they told him Neji had known and not said anything. Betrayal had been clearly written on Naruto's feature, and guilt on Neji's. No, it wouldn't happen again. But it had already happened once, and now they had lost her. Not only that, but Kabuto had apparently found her first, was hunting her as surely as Shikamaru hunted him.

Everything was a mess.

"That's no excuse!" Ino snapped. "Ooh! I could just… ooh!"

Shikamaru smiled without thinking about it, tugging the flowered blanket under his chin. He could remember other rants of hers like this. Silly, ridiculous rants about anything and everything under the sun—a lot of them had been about him actually...

"I'll let you sleep," Ino finally grumped. "Goodnight, Shika."

Shikamaru would have replied, but he was already fast asleep.

oOo

Author's Notes: So in apology for my long absence I have posted a longer than usual chapter (though most of it rather angsty) and hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, review! If you didn't, review! And if you weren't going to review anyway, it is officially my BIRTHDAY (YAY! Confetti.) and I wouldn't mind that as a present. ;-)

So, basically, review!


	32. Hit and Run

Disclaimer: Haven't you learned yet?

oOo

_My doctor asked if any members of my family suffered from insanity. I replied: No, we all seem to enjoy it. -Anonymous_

oOo

_Six months later—December._

"So…" Sakura said, hanging another ornament on the tree. "A brother, huh? Is he cute? Because I've got a friend…"

"Wouldn't know," Sasuke said, handing her another ornament. "Besides, I think someone has dibs."

"Oh, too bad," Sakura said airily. "And how's Naruto?"

"Depressed," Sasuke reported. "Still. The holidays don't seem to be helping, and he's just not getting better. He does everything he's supposed to, a nice change, but… he's not himself."

"I remember," she murmured. The last time she had seen Naruto he had been pale, lifeless, going through the motions of life without any sign of vitality or interest. To think that he was still like that after nine months… he must have really loved Hinata. With her gone, it was like there was a hole in Naruto, a space where Hinata _should_ have been but _wasn't._

Sasuke was not much better. He had been piling work onto himself over the last few months to give Naruto breathing room, and it showed in the purple rings underneath his eyes and the lines around his mouth. Things couldn't go on like this, Sakura knew, not for much longer.

The only positive factor was that Sasuke had finally agreed to go out with her, after months of pestering on her part, and she had put them firmly in the long-term relationship category for the last two weeks.

"Almost done?" Sakura asked, forcing cheer into her voice. The rest of the house was already decked out in garish style—red, green, and gold with every available surface eaten up in tacky figurines and wreathes—and Sakura couldn't help but love giggle every time Sasuke flinched as he caught a grinning Santa Claus out of the corner of his eye. Apparently, it triggered his killer instinct.

"All done," Sasuke corrected, straightening with a groan. "I never knew decorating was hard work."

"I make it hard work," Sakura assured him, dumping a few extra strands of tinsel on his head. He scowled darkly at her, advancing slowly.

"You are going to regret that."

"Am I?" Sakura asked innocently, batting her eyes. "Because your brother is due in about twenty minutes and you still need to put that box away, get the tinsel out of your hair, and rouse Naruto. And um… yeah…"

Sasuke used that smile that made Sakura's stomach do repeated back flips, and pulled her close. "What was that?"

"Something about something that can probably be done later," Sakura said, and kissed him.

They surfaced for air twenty minutes later when Sasuke panicked at the sound of knocking on the door. He checked his watch, and Sakura only just barely managed to stop him from making a mad dash to the door.

"Hold on!" she hissed, brushing the tinsel from his hair and tucking his shirt back in. "Okay, okay, you're decent! I'll get the box and Naruto. Though there's nothing I can do about your lips being all kiss swollen…"

"Thank you," Sasuke breathed quickly, ducking his head for another short kiss before he took off for the door.

Sakura took the time to pull herself back together and hide the box in Sasuke's room. She checked on Naruto, but he was snoring on his bed and she decided to leave him to it. Let him have some pleasant dreams a little while longer.

Sakura came back to the living room, already tacking a polite smile onto her face to greet Sasuke's brother and his PA. Really, who brought their PA on holiday with them?

"Sakura," Sasuke said, looking relieved. "Come here. This is Itachi and Anko."

"Hi!" Sakura chirped, beaming at them. Sasuke's brother was just as beautiful as he was, with the same dark hair—though longer, shadowing his eyes—and Itachi's eyes were lined; he had pale skin, creepily similar to Sasuke's own. She had prepared herself for the shock by looking at a few pictures, and was very gratified that her breath didn't stop in her lungs.

"Hello," Itachi said, in a voice so deep it sounded like it started from his toes. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Yup," a woman agreed, her hair pulled back into a spiky ponytail with a grin like a shark. "A big pleasure. Of course, the bigger pleasure was for Sasuke to unglue his mouth to come answer the door so that we didn't die of cold."

"I don't suppose you've ever heard of a doorbell?" Sasuke snapped. "You could have used it."

"And rob me of the chance to embarrass you? Not likely, Baby-cakes," she said.

_Rude! _Sakura thought, part outrage and part mortification. _Who treats a host like that?_

Apparently, Itachi was thinking along the same lines as he laid a hand on Anko's arm. "Stop," he ordered quietly. Anko glanced at him, shrugged, and pinched his cheek.

"Sorry," she said to Sakura. "I didn't mean to offend _you._ These boys just need to be reminded of their… imperfections sometimes."

Both men bristled—_imperfections?_ As if they _had _imperfections—and Sakura changed her opinion; this woman could be a lot of fun.

"Now where are we sleeping?" Anko demanded, picking up three huge duffel bags. Itachi tried to take one, and without even looking Anko stamped on his foot to squash the notion.

Sasuke showed her to the guest bedroom—_one room. Ah. _That's _why he brought his PA with him!_—and Sakura was left alone with Itachi to make small talk.

"Are you the buffer?" Itachi asked, shrugging out a thick black coat and laying it over his arm.

"Um… sorta…" Sakura admitted. "You two seem pretty terrified of each other."

"Mm," Itachi agreed. "Sibling rivalry when we were younger."

"Okay. Well! Come in and sit down! Would you like something to drink?"

"Water, if you would."

"Sure."

Sasuke found her in the kitchen. He looked deeply annoyed, and didn't even need an invitation to wrap his arms around her waist and lean his head on her shoulder. "I'm going to kill the she-witch," he announced grimly. "There's no way I can take her presence for a week."

"You'll be fine," Sakura lied. "I'm sure everything will get smoother as the week goes on…"

Sasuke grunted, obviously not believing a word of it, and Sakura patted his back sympathetically. "Come on, we can do this. Ask them how their flight was."

Itachi and Anko were deep in quiet conversation when Sakura brought the drinks out, and Anko looked thoroughly chastened by the time they broke it off. Itachi accepted the drink graciously, and Anko managed a smile.

"How was the flight?" Sasuke asked after a moment.

"Very good," Itachi said. "Smooth."

"_Long,_" Anko added miserably. "And does Itachi splurge on first class? Certainly not. I thought I was going to shoot myself the seventh hour in. There was this kid to our left who had 'It's A Small World' stuck in his head and seemed to think getting it stuck in everyone else's too was the way to go."

"I don't think the poor boy will ever recover from the scare Anko gave him," Itachi said, shaking his head.

Sakura laughed, and Sasuke joined in a beat behind. The brothers were studiously avoiding looking at each other, finding great interest in everything else.

_Oh no, we're not doing this._

"So Anko," Sakura said. "The flight was long? Would you like a chance to freshen up?"

Anko paused, obviously trying to decide whether or not she wanted to be offended, before catching on and nodding vigorously. "Oh, yeah, definitely. Will you show me where the bathroom is? I'd love the chance to chat with you some more."

"Of course," Sakura beamed, and the two of them fled the room before the boys could make a desperate announcement to come after them. They both looked panicked, and Sasuke actually shifted to follow after her.

"You two talk," Sakura ordered. "We'll be right back."

The horror on their faces—had she just suggested they do the _T-word?_—was comical enough that when Sakura turned the corner she traded an evil grin with Anko.

"Oh, I like you," Anko said, nodding appreciatively. "_That_ was brilliant!"

"Thank you, thank you," Sakura said. "Do you think we should check to make sure they don't kill each other?"

"_Nah._"

oOo

"So, Naruto?"

"The same."

"That's good."

"That's good?"

"Not good, but not bad. He's not dead, which is good."

"Oh, yeah, right, that's good. And Anko?"

"The same."

"That's bad."

"Very."

"Are you two… close?"

"…Yes. She decided a few years ago that we would be… and so we are."

"Ah."

"And this Sakura girl?"

"The One and all that."

"Good, good to hear."

"Yup."

Itachi took a sip of water, and then put it aside with a sigh. "I apologize. This is awkward, and I shouldn't have offered."

_Yeah, well…_ Sasuke thought. It was true. The whole idea had been one neon invitation for uncomfortable interaction, and Sasuke had been dreading it for months. At first, he had thought Naruto's insane personality would be enough to keep things normal, but then Naruto had gotten so quiet, so reserved… couldn't be counted on to sort out Itachi and Sasuke's problems when he couldn't handle his own. But still, Itachi _had_ offered, and that was a start.

At least, that's what Sakura kept telling him.

"No," Sasuke managed. "I'm glad you came by. We're just not people that… talk like other people."

"Right. There's that."

Sasuke nodded his head, sucking on a tooth. Itachi shifted on the couch, straightened his tie.

"You wanna watch TV?"

"_Gods_, yes."

oOo

_Another Two Months after That._

"It doesn't snow here!" Hinata cried horrified, burying her face in the couch. "I thought we decided on Siberia next!"

"Texas is my home," Tenten reminded her, fiddling with a knife. "To me, snow in winter is weird."

Hinata shook her head in horror, burying her face into the cheap couch cushions. "Texan hippes. Who ever heard of such thing?"

"Is this going to become a monthly rant? You've already bemoaned the lack of snow in Christmas, January, and now February. Just let it go!"

Neji watched the exchange silently from half a mile away from the house, reading lips and expressions with ease. The truck Naruto had insisted he rent trundled loudly beneath him, the engine snarling at every punch of the gas pedal. The small cabin the two women were staying in was older, but well maintained with a cache of weaponry tucked into the available space the army might envy. A lot of it was very obviously illegal, and the woman—this _Tenten_—seemed to proficient in every single one of them.

Tenten would be the threat, Neji could already tell. The woman was all lean muscle and hair-trigger reflexes. Her hair was almost permanently up and out of the way—in the most ridiculous two-bun style Neji had ever had the misfortune to see—and she tended to almost always have some kind of weapon in her hands. He had so far seen her fondling a katana, a Sig Sauer, a whip, and now a large knife. Her clothes were practical, designed for both easy movement and protection, and her eyes had a hardness to them he had only seen on war veterans.

Hinata looked better, but only just. Tenten had squeezed his cousin into the same type clothes, but Hinata had obviously taken extra pains to make them prettier and stylish by adding a scarf and some color. Her hair had been cut painfully short, but the exercise was mostly in vain from the long bangs framing her face. She had cleaned a gun earlier, with a shocking amount of proficiency, but hadn't touched it since. Instead, she had opted for burying her face in the couch and complaining about the weather.

Hinata had never complained before.

There were also a few other changes, smaller but more painful. Hinata looked pale, drawn, as if the life had been sucked out of her and replaced by sleepless nights and a forlorn resignation. It hurt Neji to see her like this—hurt the new, softer place inside Naruto had insisted on putting in—and Neji felt guilt clawing at his gut. Perhaps if he had told Naruto sooner, while they were still in France…

He shook off that line of thought, and put the car in gear, letting go of his Byakugan. Naruto had forgiven him for that, he might as well forgive himself. There was no point in worrying over it now.

The mushy part inside curled up in shame.

Neji rolled his eyes and put the car in park in front of the house, turning off the rumbling engine. It _was_ strangely warm for winter in Texas, but nippy enough Neji had opted for a light coat—something nice, something quasi expensive to balance out the horrible shoes Naruto had forced on him for his trip.

Sneakers, really? Who wore those?

His back popped as he walked to the house, and he managed to make it within twenty feet before the door slammed open and Tenten stopped onto the porch, Sig Sauer raised and pointed directly at him. Not at his head, he realized a moment later, but significantly lower. He resisted the urge to protect himself in some way.

"Let me guess," Tenten said, taking the safety off the gun. "Neji Hyuuga?"

"Tenten Rosen," Neji acknowledged, inclining his head politely. "I would like to speak to my cousin."

"Neji?" Hinata squeaked from inside. She scrambled to the door, the handgun trembling in her tiny hands. "Neji!"

"Go and pack, Hinata," Tenten said, her voice gentling as she addressed Hinata. "He's not as you knew him."

Neji was impressed she had picked that up. He had thought buying color contacts with pupils, tying his hair back, and covering the mark on his head would be enough to throw her off, make her think he was human.

Hinata had the same kind of contacts as he did, he noticed. He wondered how she had managed to get _her_ hair cut. Every time he tried it just grew back.

"But, Tenten…" Hinata said, lowering her gun. "It's _Neji._"

"Mmm," Tenten replied, utterly unconvinced. "Make me feel better, and go pack. We were going to leave soon anyway, remember? I'll keep him here for you."

"Hinata," Neji said, taking a step forward. Tenten's finger twitched over the trigger. "Hinata, please, I just want to talk. Can't we talk?"

Hinata looked torn, tears prickling at her eyes and her gun dropping from her hands. She scrambled to pick it back up, and her chin trembled as she did so.

"It's the way he walks," Tenten said quietly, not taking her eyes off of Neji. "He's different. Please, trust me."

Hinata was trembling, and Neji took another step forward, reaching out a hand toward her, wishing he could help her somehow, someway…

But Hinata's eyes grew wide, and with a muffled sob she turned and dashed back into the house.

"What have you done to her?" Neji demanded, his hands curling into tight fists. "She wasn't such a mouse before this! You've hurt her, you've—"

A shot rang, and Neji's eyes grew wide as a bullet whizzed just past his ear.

"No talking," Tenten ordered firmly. "Put your hands up."

"You—"

Another shot, this time at the ground just beside his foot. "Hands. Up."

Neji gritted his teeth so hard it hurt, but he raised his hands.

_Domineering, ridiculous, stupid_ female, he seethed internally. It had taken him weeks to track down Hinata, another week to convince Naruto he should go alone to face his cousin, six hours of driving to get out to this flyspeck town, and then another two hours sitting in his car observing them and planning his approach. Now all that time, all that effort, was literally being blown in his face by a G. I. Jane with an attitude problem.

He was forced to stand there with his arms in the air for half an hour, listening to the sound of things being packed quickly but perfectly while Tenten stood on the porch, attention not wavering for even a second, keeping the gun trained on him.

"How did you find us?" She demanded finally as an engine started from the other side of the house.

Neji pressed his lips together in disgust, making it very clear he would not be answering.

Tenten didn't seem bothered and only once she heard the crunch of gravel as their car was pulled around did she advance, not coming even close to his range.

"Don't find us again," she ordered quietly. "Next time, I won't ask before I shoot."

With that, pain exploded in his thigh and Tenten jumped in the truck brought around and squealed away from the house.

Neji cursed as he crumpled, and cursed again as he forced himself to stand and hobble over to his truck. The bullet had gone clean through, hadn't hit any major arteries, but would probably scar. He wrapped his shirt around it, tied it off, and took off grimly after the dust trail already settling on the road.

His thigh throbbed with pain as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Naruto. "Naruto? Yes, it's me. It went worse than I thought—"

"_Are you hurt?_" Naruto demanded. "_You sound hurt!_"

"I'm fine!" Neji snapped. "They're running, coming in your direction."

"_Got it. Go to the hospital._"

"I'm fine!"

"_Neji?"_

"What?"

"_Go to the hospital, or I'll have Granny take a look at you."_

Neji paused, and with a snarl hung up the phone.

He went to the hospital.

oOo

"That did not go well," Tenten announced as Hinata accelerated down the highway and wove around the other vehicles. A car was following them, but he didn't have much chance when compared to Hinata. Her Byakugan made her an excellent judge of space, and she didn't have to waste time looking to pull over. She saw each movement seconds before it even happened, and by the time the blue Camaro had pulled into their lane she had already switched in front of a white conversion van filled with six creaming children.

"You shot him!" Hinata snapped, losing their pursuer by peeling off the highway and onto the streets. The red Mustang that had been following them shot past, and Hinata felt a tug to follow after the car.

Naruto was in there. She had caught a glimpse of him as she drove, desperate determination in his blazing eyes, but she had tried not to look at him since. It hurt, tore something inside of her to see him.

"It was a flesh wound!" Tenten insisted. "Just to keep him from following us. Take this on-ramp."

Hinata obliging pulled onto the ramp, moving seamlessly into the flow of traffic out of Texas and toward Mexico.

"Your cousin is smoking by the way," Tenten added conversationally. "Although you would think I had asked him to take Atlas's place the way he glared at me."

"Pride," Hinata squeaked, wishing she had never heard the term 'smoking' applied to her _cousin._ "He has it. Lots of it. Um… I'm sorry. You think Neji is _cute?_"

Tenten laughed, and Hinata cursed the adrenaline high that Tenten must have been running on right then. "Yeah! He has the whole bad-boy vibe going on for him."

"I thought you had enough bad-boy to last you a lifetime."

"I've had enough _evil_-boy to last me a lifetime," Tenten corrected with a wink. "I'm sorry, are we having girl-talk while we race away from your evil ex?"

"I think so."

"Huh. Good time for it."

"I think so."

"Hinata," Tenten said, tone settling into serious apology. "I'm sorry about Neji. I'm sorry this happened. I'm sorry… that we have to leave."

"A—are you—u kidd—d—d—ing?" Hinata stuttered. "I've b—been wanting s—s—snow. Montana is…"

"You want me to drive?" Tenten offered gently as Hinata began to sob. "Come on, scootch over."

Hinata pulled over, and Tenten offered a quick hug before they were off again. Hinata curled up in her seat, buried her face in her hands, and cried.

Perhaps the worst part was that she wasn't crying about Neji at all.

oOo

Naruto was somewhere in south Nebraska before he eased his foot off the gas pedal and let his speedometer lower past a hundred. His cell phone had rung almost constantly for the first day of his trip, but he had already known it had nothing to do with Hinata. Hinata was gone, again, and finally the phone had just stopped.

"Numb from the brain down," Naruto quoted to himself, staring out at the dead fields lining the highway. He was unfeeling and cold inside, and even trying to summon up anger or sorrow or hate hadn't helped. It didn't ease the anesthetized hole that had swallowed him up, and nothing else seemed to soothe him either. He had tried to joke at his pathetic angst, his pitiable depression, but no matter what he said or did the numbness did not change.

Hinata was gone. His sweet little stutter-bug of a goddess had run from him not once, but three times now, with every apparent intention of keeping it that way forever. He had screwed up, he realized that now. He shouldn't have tried to tamper with her memories, shouldn't have tried to force her to accept what she didn't want, shouldn't have become such a maniac over the last few months and just _talked_ to her!

But he hadn't, and now she was gone.

Naruto wilted a little more at the thought, and glumly pulled over at a gas station to fill up. The bright lights of the convenience store shone out onto the cracked concrete posted with signs about beer and cigarettes. Normally, Naruto probably would have cleaned them out of their stock of alcohol and sugar, but tonight he leaned against his car and watched the numbers on the gas counter tick higher and higher.

_What's in Mexico anyway that Hinata would go there?_ He thought, scuffing a toe of his boot. _She could get hurt in Mexico, it gets rough down there, and she doesn't like the heat all that much anyway. Is she missing the snow? I bet she's missing the snow. It's all cold, my fingers are cold, Dalmatians…_

Groaning, Naruto rubbed his eyes and shook his head. A tired ache hummed in his bones, and his eyes kept drifting shut. He probably shouldn't be driving.

A car pulled up on the other side of the pump, and Naruto swore when he realized who it was. Sasuke stepped out, buried his hands in his coat pockets, and gave Naruto a stare clearly saying that Sasuke had not been happy driving two states to chase Naruto down.

"I was coming back," Naruto muttered to the pavement.

"Before you hit the ice-caps?" Sasuke replied, voice mild. That was a very bad sign. Sasuke was always at his worst when he was calm. "Or the ocean, perhaps? Maybe you were just planning to drive on into Europe and down to Asia, see the sights for a month or two. I hear it's horrible down there. Oh, no, I've got it! You've just _lost your mind!_"

"Y—"

"I've been patient!" Sasuke continued. "I patted your head and held your hand and tiptoed around your wounds, but I am _not_ going to do it anymore. You are coming back to New York right now, and you are going to apologize to everyone, and then you are going to do as you're charged!"

His stomach rebelled at the thought of going back to New York without Hinata, and he had to swallow bile.

"_Naruto._"

"I heard you," Naruto assured him. "I'll—" he swallowed again. "I'll go."

They both pretended his voice hadn't cracked on the last word.

oOo

Author's Notes: Finally we see Naruto! And Neji. :-) Also, the promised Uchiha Christmas has finally come to pass. Please review and tell me what you thought!


	33. Reunion

Disclaimer: See previous.

Author's Note: Now, by show of hands, who thought I had given up and become a nun?

But, lo, here I am! I said I was going to finish, so I'm going to give you the option of telling me to finish or just quit while I'm ahead. I know I've made you wait (FOREVER, nearly a year now) and I have a whole list of excuses I can share, but won't. So I give you this trifle, and I need you to let me know if you think I really should keep going. Also, I KNOW the time skip and what not is weird and choppy, but it was one of the things holding me back from writing, so I just glossed over that bit. A one-shot may be written later to address that.

Enjoy!

oOo

_Your absence has gone through me  
Like thread through a needle  
Everything I do is stitched with its color  
_~"Separation" by W.S. Merwin~

oOo

The snow shivered down from the dark sky, piling up in great heaps along the ground. Hinata sat at the window, making patterns in the fog on the glass. Montana was nice enough, she supposed, but so… _empty_. There was so much space between everything and everyone, even houses, and the sky seemed to swallow up the whole state in its great gaping maw.

Here, alone and isolated, Hinata felt strangely exposed under that sky.

She looked at the window, and with a sigh rubbed Naruto's name from the glass.

"What do you think?" Tenten asked quietly, taking a seat next to her. "You think he's telling the truth?"

Hinata closed her eyes, switching back and forth from her normal vision to Byakugan in a lightning pace. Darkness, life, darkness, life, darkness, life. Darkness.

"It feels right to me," Hinata whispered. "Itachi… makes a good point. But I might be biased."

"Oh?"

Life. "It means I wouldn't be a monster, too," Hinata said, lifting her head and watching the flinch flicker across Tenten's freckled shoulders. "It means Naruto is good, and I can go home. Tenten, I _do_ believe him. I'm just not sure if it's because I only want to."

Tenten was quiet, tracing the scars on her arms slowly. "Okay, let's recap," she said, and Hinata smiled as Tenten mentally organized her list. Tenten loved lists. "We meet Itachi three months ago, he wants to meet us in a public place and talk. You meet him despite me expressly telling you _not to_—"

"I apologized!"

"He says he's a demon. You _don't run—_"

"I pulled out a gun and threatened him though. That's something!"

"He explains that demons are like people, both good and bad." Tenten swallowed hard, glaring out at the night. "That the…_ Bond_ Naruto tried to forge with you…"

"Is incomplete," Hinata cut in, sensing Tenten's distress. "It's supposed to make us more aware of the other's feelings, very occasionally thoughts, bring us closer."

"And he's some kind of king, that rules over all the other demons, and his territory was threatened or something."

"He just wants me home," Hinata finished quietly. Her voice broke, slightly. "And I want to go, now that I know. I know it might not all be perfect, but…"

Tenten scrubbed her hands over her face tiredly. She sighed. "All of my pro-con lists are coming out in your favor."

Hinata grinned, a faint bubble of hope rising inside her. _If it's true, and he's good, and we can just _talk_…_

"Alright, here."

Tenten passed over a sheaf of papers, and Hinata laughed. "Why is 'Neji' on here six different times?"

Tenten grinned. "It's all about priorities," she replied. "You will also note," she added, pointing to the rest of the paper. "Beat Up This Naruto Dude is lines sixteen through thirty…"

oOo

"I need you to be calm," Sasuke said, taking the seat across from Naruto's desk with unusual care. The entire city was a gigantic minefield now that Kabuto was trying to wrest control from Naruto's suddenly lax hands. Sasuke couldn't even leave his house without some kind of attack.

Naruto looked up from some paperwork, and Sasuke winced at the deep purple shadows building beneath his eyes. "I'm totally calm."

Sasuke sighed, leaning back in his chair and trying to phrase his next words carefully.

"Your last run-in with Hin—"

"Don't want to talk about it," Naruto snapped, and Sasuke actually had to repress a flinch from the anger in his voice. "It was a party, she was _terrified _of me, and if how quickly she took off was any hint she never wants to see me again," Naruto ranted.

"It went badly," Sasuke agreed. "But Itachi has recently made contact with them. They've been talking for the better part of three months, and he says that Hinata is willing to talk to you if you are still willing to talk to her."

Naruto had gone completely still, and it was only until his face started turning blue that Sasuke reached over and slapped his shoulder to get him to breathe. Naruto gasped once, and then bounded up from his chair with a manic energy that Sasuke hadn't seen in months.

"Where is she? When is she coming? Where's my phone? I need to call her! No, I need to call Itachi! Where's my phone? Where's my phone? Where's my phone?"

Bemused, Sasuke pointed to Naruto's desk drawer, nearly laughing out loud when Naruto ripped the drawer out of the desk and it fell on his foot. He hopped around, clutching his toes and swearing as he simultaneously tried to dial Itachi's number.

"Anko!" He screeched with delight the moment it was answered. "I need to talk to Itachi right now! No, it can't wait! I don't care what you're in the middle of! Even that! …ITACHI! HI! Yeah, it's me, who else would it be? I do not sound like a maniac! …Look, it doesn't even matter. Where's Hinata?" Naruto paused for a moment, finally letting his foot drop, face spasming between joy and anger. If Sasuke had thought it wouldn't hurt horribly, he might have laughed at the sudden change. "What do you mean? SHE'S COMING HERE? WHEN? Sorry. Uh-huh. Uh-huh! UH-HUH! Right, sorry."

He was silent for several minutes, nodding enthusiastically at every other word, and whooped after he hung up.

"Did you hear that?" Naruto demanded, rounding on him. "Hinata's coming here! Tomorrow, Sasuke, she's going to be here TOMORROW!"

"That's great," Sasuke said. "But do you really have to shout?"

"You know, that's just what Itachi said…"

oOo

Neji stepped out of the shower and dried his hands angrily before snatching up his buzzing phone from its place on the counter. It had been steadily ringing for the last five minutes, without any show of letting up any time soon. He nearly broke the thing just pushing answer.

"What?" he snapped.

"Hi!" said someone all-too-bubbly on the other end. It took his mind a moment to realize who his caller was when she sounded so happy. "This is—"

"I know," Neji snapped, turning off the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist. There was no point in trying to relax now. "What do you want?"

Tenten sighed, the phone crackling with the sound. "To…" the next word seemed dragged out of her, and he could hear her teeth clack together. "_Apologize._ For shooting you."

Neji paused in the act of brushing his hair out of his face, head tilting in consideration. He had no doubt his cousin had forced the female Rambo into this pathetic excuse for an apology, but wasn't willing to completely forego all decorum.

Yet.

"Go ahead," he replied.

He swore he could hear her teeth grind.

"I'm very sorry," she managed, contritely enough. "I can't be too careful."

"Hmm," Neji said, not quite agreeing. "Well, I have to go."

"Aren't you going to accept my apology?"

"Why should I?"

"Look, Bub," Tenten snapped, and Neji raised his eyebrows. Who used the word "bub"? "I had to steal your number from Hinata's phone—who has _three-hundred fifty-four_ degree vision and can see through walls. I am currently freezing my _butt_ off standing out here on my pride to apologize to you, even when I don't think you overly deserve it. If I was in the same position, I would shoot your snooty butt all over again! But it was wrong, and I am saying sorry, and you could at least say you'll think about it!"

Neji suddenly realized he was smiling, and forced himself to stop. "I'll think about it," he replied, doing his upmost to sound neutral.

There was a moment of silence. Neji was relatively sure she was jumping up and down and swearing.

"Thank you," she said after a minute. "Alright then. Nice talking to you."

"Can you put Hinata on?" Neji said, testing her.

"No!" Tenten squeaked. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I mean, uh, no. She doesn't need to know about this."

"Why not?"

Tenten sighed, another distant crackle, and then Neji heard the faint sound of Hinata's humming. Tenten spoke again. "I don't want remind her I recently shot her cousin when she's this happy," she admitted. "I figure I'll be run out of the city pretty quickly, so I should… anyway, the toaster is going _I, Robot_ on me so I had better go."

"I thought you were outside."

"…I have a sense for these things."

Neji paused, licked his lips, and said. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Does this mean you accept my apology?"

"We'll discuss it later," Neji offered magnanimously. "Over dinner."

"I! Uh... that…"

Neji realized he was smiling again, and with great relish hung up right in middle of her desperate splutters.

oOo

Hinata was pretty sure she was having a panic attack.

Considering she was in a pressurized metal cabin hanging thousands of feet in the air, it really wasn't the best time.

"It's going to be fine," Tenten reassured her, pressing a cold cloth to her head and leaning her chair as far back as it would go. The person behind them complained, but Tenten's verbose swearing and fist-shaking quickly had him hiding in the bathroom. "—you ^*%^$^&^^* pansycake! Now, Sweetie, just stay still. Here, breathe in the bag. In, out, in, out… there you go."

"I'm okay," Hinata said weakly, pushing Tenten's thousand-and-one caring hands away. "How—how soon are we landing again?"

"Five minutes."

Hinata's chest tightened up again, and she told herself to stop being such a baby. This, shockingly enough, did nothing to stop the world from going a little fuzzy on the edges. The closer she got to New York, the harder her heart seemed to beat. The buzz in the back of her mind that she had grown accustomed to over the last two years, the buzz that had been her constant companion ever since that bleak night so long ago, was also louder, more distinct. Mostly, the bundle reminded her of excitement and nervousness—Naruto's, she assumed—and a great healthy dose of trepidation. If asked, she could have pointed almost exactly where he was standing.

He was waiting for her.

The plane bumped into a landing, and the process to disembark seemed to take the longest and shortest time of her life. In a lifetime, in seconds, she was outside security, ignoring Tenten's demands that they retrieve their luggage. Her mind felt like it was a gauzy fog, and she couldn't seem to think about anything else besides finding Naruto. Hinata slipped through the crowds with ease, following a sense she had never known before, only just stopping herself from activating her byakugan to catch a glimpse of familiar blond hair all the faster.

And then he was there, just in front of her, and she found herself wondering if he had always looked that beautiful.

He was smiling, and she realized she was too, standing there in the middle of airport traffic and not caring a whit if anyone tried to run her over.

"Hi," Naruto said breathlessly, his voice like textured honey.

Hinata laced her fingers through his. "Hi, Naruto."

She just barely managed to get the words out before he kissed her, and Hinata found she didn't mind at all.

oOo

Author's Note: I know what you're thinking: "WHAT? But that ending is so OOC from the rest of the story!" Hold on, Duckies! All will be explained. There is voodoo afoot.

As always, I beg your for reviews.


	34. In Which Evil Plans Are Set In Motion

Author's Note: I'M REALLY SORRY! has some kind of issue, or maybe I do, and I cannot receive updates and reviews. I also cannot find a way to reply to reviews that are not sent to my e-mail. Hopefully, that will be resolved soon, but until then you can either PM me or apply this genral reply to you.

Thank you for your review! I really, really appreciate it!

Like, seriously, a LOT.

Now just because it's taken me so long to post again, do not assume it is because I have been working hard. I had a general idea of where this story was going at the beginning, but after Hinata runs has always been kind of hazy. But no longer! Plot has been achieved once again, and I can only say two things: 1. It's been there all along (of course). 2. I really hope it doesn't suck as much as I think it might.

Alright, I've rambled long enough. Updates should be a little faster, and for your patience this is TWICE the length of the last chapter.

(Pretty neat, huh?)

oOo

"It's hard to be nostalgic when you can't remember anything." - Unknown

oOo

"Report," Kabuto snapped.

"Sir! Uzumaki's perimeter now only controls half of the city, and though our desertion rate remains the same, we have taken many of his strongholds. He still does little to resist otherwise than continue to assert he is King and offer asylum. No counterattacks yet, and no heavy fighting."

"The desertion rate," Kabuto muttered. "Still ninety-five percent?"

"Yes, Sir."

_Loyalists_, Kabuto thought in disgust. _You let a dog off its leash so that it can crap in the neighbor's yard, and then the dog is upset when you try to put it back in its place. How _dare_ they assume that Uzumaki is a better King. He is _nothing_! That fool killed Orochimaru-sama. He must pay. He _must_ pay._

"…the food supply is plentiful, with the storerooms at 90% capacity," Minion #62 reported. "Would you like us to bring it up to 100?"

"What's the harm?" Kabuto murmured, steepling his fingers. _How to punish Naruto? How? _"What are men compared to rocks and mountains?"

"…Sir?"

A man burst into the room, panting, and Kabuto stood from his chair. He dismissed the other with a flick of his fingers. Minion #62 could not be allowed to hear the report of his most trusted spy. He was probably a traitor. He was surrounded by weak-willed traitors!

"What is it, #2?" he snapped.

"She's back, Sir," #2 gasped. "Uzumaki's girl. She just touched down."

Kabuto hissed in annoyance, and with a deft flick of his hand carved a smiley face into the thin tissue of the flunky's neck. He toed him in annoyance as the man fell to the ground, choking on blood and vomit, feet kicking his new desk. He really needed to kill his minions in the hall. He despised the smell the cleaning lads used on his carpet.

Dying. What a simple thing it was, that final act. He imagined it a terrific release from the dark points of the day, the monotony of a defiant life. Orochimaru-sama—may he rest in peace—hadn't seen it that way, of course. How could he, when that little brat calling himself a king killed him without a thought?

How dare they take Orochimaru-sama away from him!

"Sir?" another minion asked, entering the room slowly. "Sir? What should I do?"

Kabuto realized he had been kicking the other minion's corpse, and deceased. How unseemly of him.

"You're #2's apprentice. So you were there… The girl and Naruto have found each other again, then?" Kabuto asked. "You allowed them to meet?"

"Y-yes, Sir."

"And have they finalized their bond?"

"The moment she stepped off the plane, Sir."

"So he has a Queen," Kabuto whispered, running a bloody thumb across his lips. "Problematic. Together their rule is ironclad, no one overthrows _two_ regents. And everything was going _so_ well. But… he's not the only one who can form a bond, now is he? No. No he's not."

Kabuto smiled and licked his lips in rapture. They tasted faintly of copper.

_Oh_, he thought as he gave the minion his orders. _This is going to be good._

oOo

Naruto honestly had no idea how he and Hinata had gotten home.

It had been something of a shock to be standing in an airport with Hinata one moment, and then home on his couch with Hinata the next. He assumed someone had driven them or something, but had absolutely no memory of it if such a thing had occurred. Really, he couldn't seem to focus on much of _anything_ besides Hinata.

Her hair was shorter, he had noticed that right off, and he was amazed by exactly how faulty his memory was. She hadn't been so beautiful in his memory, didn't smell so good, didn't feel the same way or talk with just the right inflection. He had heard of a memory not being able to do someone justice, but seeing it fall so short was pretty incredible.

…He was a sap.

"Penny for your thoughts," Hinata offered quietly, twining their fingers together. Naruto's smile stretched that much wider watching even the small show of affection, and he rubbed his cheek against her hair.

"I was thinking that I really, really missed you," Naruto said, and Hinata giggled. She had the cutest giggle. "I missed _this._"

"Me too. I missed you a lot."

She had _missed_ him! That was so sweet.

Naruto blinked. Something had sounded off about that sentence, but he wasn't sure what it was exactly. After a moment, it clicked. "But…?" he added slowly.

"But," Hinata agreed, and Naruto could feel hesitation through their bond. "I think we should at least talk a little?"

"Yeah, sure, okay," Naruto said. "You first."

Hinata's fingers twisted in his grasp, and he realized with a start that he had nearly forgotten her nervous habit of tapping her fingers together. After a moment she steadied, thumb moving quickly back and forth across his knuckles. That was nice. "I'm sorry I freaked out and… hit you with a club. I'm sorry I ran away. You were—you were a total jerk about that entire secret."

Well, at least it was out in the open.

"Yeah," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean…" he blew a raspberry in frustration, reveling in her startled laugh. "The hitting thing was no big deal really, though I would appreciate it if you wouldn't do it again."

"Well, you just killed a guy and bit me," Hinata reminded him tightly.

"Totally evil dude," he insisted. "Serious evil I'm talking here. And, at the time, it seemed like the biting was totally necessary. I figured I could set up the bond with you and it would help you understand and not freak out. Though I didn't think you would, uh, hurt me over it."

He could still remember that night so vividly, the terror in her eyes, and then sharp and hard through the bond, until the world exploded into pain and everything had whited out completely. It was a temporary death, but it had caused him more pain than she probably ever needed to know.

"What is the bond exactly?" Hinata asked. "I'm still not one-hundred percent clear on that. And what do you mean died? How many times can you die? And how exactly does this whole hierarchy thing you've got going on work? And what's been happening? How's my family? My friends?"

Naruto tried to put all those questions in order, but gave up quickly. She would just have to remind him. "Uh… Bond, okay. It's a… bond… between people and there are different types and, uh, the one you and I have is… special. Um. We can share feelings, and sometimes thoughts, and I can know if you're in trouble and you know when I'm in trouble and you get some awesome powers and if it breaks or one of us dies we kind of suck forever. And it's technically like marriage, but stronger, and not really if you don't want it to be—because I would understand that completely!—and… I died. I come back to life because I'm me, but I can only die so many times, and I'm probably going to run out of my quota sometime, though I think Sasuke is the one who keeps track of that. You know how I am with numbers."

He paused in his awkward rambling, waiting for her to absorb that much, and only continued when she nodded. "What was your next question? Hierarchy thing. Well, I'm the king and stuff, so everybody has to do what I say but I don't _make_ them do what I say 'cause I don't want to be that guy. Unlike the spiky-haired, crazy-eyed, take-over-the-world nut in the other room."

Hinata blinked. "Sasuke tried to take over the world?"

"Another story, another time," he said, shrugging. "Does that cover it?"

Hinata was quiet for a very long moment, and Naruto tried not to fidget too much. Was she even quieter than she had been before? It seemed almost impossible, but she was taking an awfully long time.

"…I want to say that it doesn't make sense," Hinata said finally. "I want to say that this is crazy and frustrating and that I need time to process." She looked up at him, eyes wary. "But I don't. Whether it's this bond or if it's just because it's you, I… love you." She hung her head. "And that is apparently enough for me to take all of this in stride and tell you to buy me a ring."

Naruto whooped out loud, completely okay with this plan.

"I am completely okay with this plan," he cheered.

"But I _shouldn't_ be, Naruto," Hinata insisted, dragging him back down. "This shouldn't be okay."

"But it is," Naruto said, confused. "You just said it was okay."

"I know. I… if we're going to do this no more lies. No more half-truths. Okay?"

"Absolutely," Naruto agreed. "Ask me anything."

"_Tell_ me anything," Hinata argued. "What's happened to you in the last however long it's been?"

Naruto leaned back on the couch, folding his arms grumpily. Of course that would be what she asked.

To be honest, he had no idea what had happened to him since Hinata had been gone. Time seemed to pass in a blur, when he worked to take control back from Kabuto, fought Kabuto, did paperwork on Kabuto, gave orders that Sasuke pushed into his hand and signed things the same way. If someone had asked him what Kabuto was doing, what his plans were—anything—Naruto wouldn't have been able to say.

That was going to change, but it was still unnerving to think that he had been so out of it.

Hinata's thumb smoothed away the indent in his eyebrow, and with a gentle smile she snuggled into his shoulder. "Me too," she whispered.

"You're perfect," Naruto sighed happily. "I have an idea. How about we not talk about what happened anymore? Let's just… let it go."

"Letigo," Hinata agreed. "Okay. That's crazy and might come back to haunt us, but okay!"

"So perfect," Naruto said happily, and held her hand in both of his. "So… what kind of ring do you want?"

"That depends." She said with a cheeky grin. "How much money do you have on you right now?"

oOo

Ino sat down tiredly on the couch and cast a dejected eye over her apartment. An open pizza box battled for space on the coffee table with cups, books, flowers, and order forms. Holly's half-done homework was on top of the television, littered with movie boxes, and the floor was covered with the odd-and-ends of too many days. Clothes, shoes, magazines, all in a pile-up that almost managed to obscure the carpet that hadn't been vacuumed in much too long.

Then there was the stack of newspapers yellowing in the corner, all with the same nothing-at-all to report about Hinata.

(In another corner, in the back of her closet, sat a growing pile of death threats from Kabuto and his thugs.)

The store had been a nightmare today too, and even though Holly was out of school on Spring Break, Ino had barely even laid eyes on her as she had been working and Holly had been spending most of her time at her Dad's.

And that Shika! She thought angrily. I never should have let him back in. How dare he offer to loan me money? I don't need his &%$^&%$* charity!

"You hear that, Universe?" she demanded. "I don't need him!"

The Universe did not deign to answer.

That made Ino angry. Being angry made her stupid, and being stupid had her jumping to her feet, running to her car, and breaking every traffic law she knew driving over to Shikamaru's apartment.

He had a parking garage. With two spaces.

She seriously considered keying his car.

It was past eleven by the time she knocked on his (solid oak. The _gall_) door. He opened it after several tense minutes of pounding, rubbing his eyes and wearing some really old cotton pajamas that she was pretty sure she had given as a gag wedding present. They had pineapples on them.

"Ino?" He said blearily. "Hey. Um, Holly's asleep."

"Uh, yeah, I figured," Ino snapped. She was seething inside, a thousand worries and concerns and fears mixing together in a great bubbling cauldron of anger. Hinata was gone, the stack of Past Dues were building up in her drawer, and—and—and Shika had no right to be back in her life like this! "I need to talk to you."

"Come on in," Shika said slowly, opening the door wider and showing her to the couch. "You know it's late—"

"I don't need your charity!" Ino interrupted angrily. "I don't need your help, I don't want your help, and the fact that you let anything slip to Holly was…" She made a frustrated noise, cheeks burning at the mere memory of Holly questioning her about her finances. "I cannot even _say_ how stupid that was! _Me, _Shika, you have finally found something for which even _I _do not have _words!_ I thought you wanted to be in my daughter's life. I thought you wanted to try to make things good again, but oh no! You have to go and_ meddle_ because you just can't leave good enough alone! Well, my daughter's life is not _my_ life, and I don't want you to think you can just barge in and—and—and—and ruin _everything_!"

Shikamaru blinked stupidly.

"Stop looking at me like that!"

"I'm sorry," Shika said slowly. "Ino, I didn't say anything to Holly…"

"Yes you did!" Ino hissed. "You got her started on the whole thing by asking your stupid questions!"

"I didn't know," Shika said simply. "And I do want to be in Holly's life. And that means yours too."

"It does not."

"It does," Shikamaru said, quite firmly. "Now I want to know what right you have to come over and yell at me in the middle of the night. What's wrong with you?"

"Ugh!" Ino grunted in offense. "Nothing! Fine. Okay, I'm leaving."

"Ino."

"I'm keying your car on my way out!" Ino snapped, and slammed the door in his face.

She managed to break even more laws on the way home than she had on the way there—with the added bonus of a smiley face scratched into the new black paint of Shikamaru's car—and ripped open the door to her closet the second she was safe at home.

There the pile of papers sat, each one more descriptive than the last, each one warning her not to step out of line.

She picked them up and sat on the bed, leafing through them idly.

_I hope you enjoy the flowers._

–_K._

_You should really change your locks._

_ -K._

Finally, the most terrifying, and the most recent, the one she had at the very bottom. Ino felt her eyes film with tears at the crystal clear shot of Holly at school, smiling at one of her friends. No words, no threats, just the picture taped to her door this morning. One letter on the back: _K._

What am I going to do?

Knock, knock, knock!

Ino gasped, jumping almost a foot in the air, and she quickly grabbed the small hand-gun she kept sitting in her bedside table. She approached the door slowly, carefully, trying to make sure her shadow didn't show from beneath. Her heart pounded madly in her chest, and she could feel herself start to sweat.

It could only be one person.

_K._

She took a deep breath to steel herself, and looked through the peephole.

Shikamaru grimaced at her.

Gasping in relief, Ino unlocked and opened the door with trembling hands, trying to keep her composure. Shikamaru was still wearing his pineapple pajamas, a coat and boots thrown on, hair a scraggly mess on top of his head. His angry expression melted into concern so quickly that she nearly managed to summon the anger up again to hit him.

Mostly, though, she was just relieved.

"What's really going on Ino?" Shika asked, letting himself in and locking the door behind him. Warily, he took the gun from her hand. She let him.

"Who's with Holly?" she asked.

"I asked a good friend to watch her for a minute. Ino…" Shika sighed in that same annoyed way that he had done since they were kids, and without asking walked into her bedroom and picked up the stack of papers on the bed. Ino lingered in the doorway, unsure of what she was supposed to do now. She was just so… tired.

Shikamaru leafed through each page slowly, lingering on the image of Holly. "When was this taken?" he whispered.

"It was taped to my door this morning," Ino said. "It was taken last Friday. I remember that outfit—I made it for her."

"Good sewing skills," he said.

Ino couldn't help laughing. "Thanks."

"So what will you be needing?" Shikamaru asked, dropping down to grope under her bed. "Are you still paranoid enough about a zombie invasion to stock an overnight bag? Ah, yep, there it is. We can get the rest of your stuff tomorrow, I'm sure."

"The rest of my stuff?" Ino asked slowly. "Shika, what are you doing? Hey, that's mine!"

"Of course it's yours," Shikamaru said calmly, snagging her pillow off the bed. How in the world did the man manage to remember she could only sleep on her own pillow? "You're going to stay over tonight."

"Wow. It's sweet that you came over and all, but all this still does not constitute you getting anywhere near lucky."

Shikamaru just snorted, and made sure to grab her floss.

"Seriously, Shika, _no_."

"Ino," Shikamaru said, setting down his bags to rest his hands on her shoulders. "I have lost more lately than you can probably comprehend right now. You are in danger, and I am not going to leave Holly without her mom. …and I'm not going to lose you a second time. You can come back as soon as its safe, but right now the safest place you can possibly be is with me. _Please_, Ino."

_It's always the eyes_, she thought, shaking her head. _I can never resist a word he says when he looks at me like that. …don't let on now, girl_. "Oh, so you have shotguns at your place or something?"

"Something much better. Besides, Holly is there."

"Hit me below the belt why don't ya?"

"If you really think it'll help…"

"_Fine_," Ino sighed. "Just let me grab my book, okay? I'm nearly done."

"Sure. I'll go start the car."

Ino snatched the book of the living room chair, and felt a sharp pain in the back of her skull. She stumbled, blinked, and then crumpled right into scaly arms.

oOo

"Oh," Sakura said with a chuckle, examining Hinata's hand. "Is this from a Cracker Jack box?"

"Vending machine," Hinata admitted, tugging at the star-shaped ring. "He only had two dollars on him at the time, and the gas station was next door. It was all surprisingly romantic actually. He got down on one knee, everything…"

"That's… fast," Sakura said slowly, leaning back into the couch. "Um, sweetie, I don't know all the details of what has been happening with you, but this seems kind of rash."

"It's really rash," Hinata admitted, twisting the ring on her left hand. Fiddling with the little piece of sparkly blue plastic was quickly becoming her new nervous habit, and her newest cause of nerves. How long had she run from the man she was diving head first into a marriage with? Two _years_. Two years she had run in the opposite direction whenever his shadow darkened the door. Now…

"I really want to be happy again," Hinata finally admitted. "I loved him then, and I loved him when I was running, and I love him even more now. I don't want to be apart from him anymore—or ever. It's just… I sound crazy don't I?"

Sakura squealed, and continued for over a minute. "No! You sound _adorable_. Oh my gosh! Okay. If you're happy, then I'm ecstatic. …As long as you fully expect me to help plan your wedding."

Hinata giggled, relief bursting in her chest. "Of course! Sometime next year, I'm thinking. A long engagement will give us time to get used to each other again and give everyone some time to adjust. Did I tell you I'm meeting with my family this afternoon? Neji has been so great helping explain to them! I can't wait to see them."

"And Ino! Ino is going to _die_."

"I know! I've missed her so much. And Holly! How's Holly?"

"So good, oh…" Sakura leaned over and hugged her. "I really missed you."

Hinata breathed in the familiar scent of Sakura's shampoo and smiled. "I missed you too."

Many more hugs and pleasantries followed as Sakura engaged in one of her favorite activities (gossip) and Hinata for once listened intently for news, instead of engaging in her usual response (censorship). It was a balm for Hinata's battered nerves to sit in her friend's cozy apartment, on that horrible garage-sale couch, and giggle over boys like they were twelve all over again. Out of everything, she had missed the feeling of security the most.

"You will have to meet Tenten," Hinata was saying. "She's great, and I bet you two would find a lot to talk about! She knows her way around anatomy pretty well too—"

"Hello!" Naruto cried, bursting in the door. He snuggled in next to Hinata and nuzzled her cheek until she pushed him away with a laugh. "Hinata! I missed you! I haven't seen you in _hours_. That's like a quarter of a quarter or… a time of my life span without you! Oh, hi Sakura. Are those cookies? Can I have six? Where's Sasuke?"

"Hi, yes, one, not sure," Sakura replied just as rapidly. "We're having _girl_ time, Naruto."

"Oh," Naruto said in disappointment, simultaneously trying to stuff an entire cookie in his mouth.

"Small bites," Hinata ordered, breaking off half. "You're going to choke."

"Thank you, Honey!" He planted a kiss on her cheek and made every appearance of settling in. "I'll only stay until Sasuke gets here."

"What makes you so sure Sasuke is coming here?"

"Because he spends every waking moment here he possibly can," Naruto said. "Do you have any milk? I'll get it!"

"No milk for you! I'm on my last gallon!"

"I'll make Sasuke get more. Sasuke _loves_ buying milk!"

"Lies."

"Yeah. Do you want milk, Hinata?"

"Hmm?" Hinata asked. "Oh, I'm fine. But will you grab the door please? You were right. Sasuke is coming now."

"Wow! That's cool! You have superpower eyes! Yeah, yeah, I'm going to totally freak him out. I'm going to open the door and be all: 'I see dead people'."

"You have fun with that."

Hinata rolled her eyes at Sakura as they waited until the predictable smack as Sasuke found Naruto's joke less than hilarious.

"I have some news," Sasuke said, lingering in the doorway even as Naruto cuddled up next to Hinata on the couch. "It's delicate."

"Shoot," Naruto ordered calmly, sneaking another cookie off the plate.

Sasuke glanced at Sakura before continuing, looking distinctly upset. "Nara, Yamanaka, and their child are missing. It happened sometime last night. We think it was Kabuto."

To her surprise, Hinata felt a torrent of anger at the words, and only realized after a dizzying moment that it wasn't hers at all. It was Naruto, though he looked calm but for a distinctly feline cast to his face, and Hinata found that she was also angry. Furious, even.

"He has Ino?" she asked quietly, locking her hand in Naruto's. "He kidnapped her?"

"Yes," Sasuke said, looking like he wanted to run away.

"Hinata? Honey?"

_It was supposed to be over. They were supposed to be safe! _She thought, and Naruto flinched. _I tried! We'll find her. _"Darn right we'll find her!" Hinata snapped, springing to her feet. "That's enough! No more running. Naruto, we are together now, and that means nothing can stand in our way! Right? Now we are going to find Ino, and_ end_ the freak that took her. Sasuke! Who's on the search now? What clues do we have? Naruto, I want a citywide alert. I'm going to call Tenten."

She felt a sudden thrum of pleasure and pride, and smiled at Naruto. "You're really cool," he said happily. "Okay! Phone, phone…"

"In your pocket."

"Great. Let's go!"

They stormed out the door together, already talking a mile a minute, and Sasuke and Sakura were left quiet and awed in their wake.

"I had no idea Hinata could be so frightening," Sasuke said.

"Oh, just wait," Sakura murmured, wrapping an arm through his. "You haven't seen anything yet. Have I told you about the Great Blow-Up of '02?"

oOo

Author's Note: Fun, right? As usual, I beg/demand/grovel for reviews! I will try to find some way to reply. Thanks!


	35. I Think You Should Hear This

Author's Note: Ahem. So... it's been a while... and I am very sorry for the delay! The only thing I can now promise is that I plan to have this done before June. I'm sorry that you've had to wait this long!

THANK YOU so much for the reviews!

oOo

It was after midnight, and Able street was dark. Yellow lamps burned low or were out completely, creating thick spots of darkness between the meager footpaths of light. Sasuke had to keep his eyes on his feet fifty percent of the time, as one wrong move could send him onto the gravel with a snapped ankle.

The other fifty percent of his attention was focused solely on his surroundings. A steep hill with a rotted roadway and rusted metal safety guards hemmed him on the left, and the metal industrial buildings with their watching eyes and moaning mouths, hemmed in by chain-link, clotted his left, front, and rear escape. The only way into this place was under that old bridge, where the hill had been carved away to receive incoming trucks, the roadway threatening to come crumbling down on top of it any day.

It was a kill box.

The hair on the back of his neck was standing straight up. He could hear the traffic clogging up the FDR, the wind whistling past the metal and concrete corners, and the subtle crunch of gravel beneath his feet and behind him.

"Sir," Crane whispered to his left. He had brought five of Naruto's honor guard (well, honor for them, as Naruto wasn't technically aware of their existence just yet. It was just too difficult for one person to keep track of that bouncing ball of sunshine and mania all the time) with him tonight, some of his strongest subordinates. "Should we…?"

Sasuke held up his hand. "We wait for Bear to report."

Crane nodded, and fell silent. He could almost see Tiger, Lizard, and Falcon exchange looks, and the not-so-subtle pass of coins between them.

Minutes passed. Sasuke resisted the urge to check his watch, determined not to show worry. It was taking a while though. Too long?

_No_, he thought, fighting too-familiar hyperventilation. _Just relax. Relax._

He thought of Sakura, and it made him smile slightly. Some of his paranoia left him, and he was able to draw a normal breath.

Bear materialized out of the shadows a moment later. His shoulders were tense.

"We should go," Bear whispered, voice muffled by the mask on his face. "The distress call we received earlier was a hoax. There's nobody here, and I have a bad feeling about this place."

Sasuke nodded, controlling his own panic. He could see everything clearly now, and what he had to do. But he had to have control. He thought of Sakura smiling, chewing on the end of her pencil, slamming her fist into the sandbag—he was _not_ going to lose it! But he could feel the madness creeping, the twisted paranoia that left him unable to tell friend from foe. He fought it for several tense seconds before he could speak. "You're right. We're going to be attacked. This is a trap."

"Then—"

"It's too late. We have seconds. They're probably carrying guns. I want you to form up behind me, as close as you can get. Don't run until I tell you."

Sasuke was sure there were protests, but he didn't hear them. He was sinking, sinking deep and fast into the locked portions of his mind. He would need more than his usual bag of tricks if anyone was going to get out of here alive tonight, and that meant delving behind the doors he had so carefully constructed to keep his nightmares at bay.

First, the madness.

The madness lay behind the first door, a door made up of new hopes and old dreams, and it was always disturbingly easy to open. The madness was always there, lurking, a darkness that bit and tore with claws he couldn't see and couldn't catch. It had come from Itachi's betrayal of the family, from Orochimaru's games, and Sasuke's own paralyzing fear. But he knew it, he could control it, and so he passed through without being mired in the mud.

The second door was smaller, tighter, edges all sealed up. This was the door made up of resolve, and it was harder to move, because what lay beyond frightened him more. Memories of the bad times—the times when he had betrayed his friends, destroyed lives, and become nothing more than a meat puppet that obeyed Orochimaru's orders with perfect and mechanical precision. Here, he found what he was looking for; the memory, the power, the old seals that called his greatest weapon.

He took it in his hands, and prepared to leave, but couldn't resist looking at the final door—he never could.

He was glad that was one he didn't have to open. The third door was made of blood, and pain, and bitter salt. Around the edges leaked sunshine, so bright it hurt his eyes to look. He knew what lay beyond that door, as well as he knew the symbol of his family, carved across his back and shoulders with a knife meant to burn. Beyond that lay the happy memories, the memories that touched him with gentle hands, and familiar smiles. Too much, too much.

He didn't need it now anyway.

Sasuke surfaced from his sleeping mind seconds after he had entered, eyes dripping red and patterned black. He could see the bullets coming now, the slow spin of the .42 calibers splitting the air frame by frame, could see the men in the warehouse windows with their sights trained on him.

A part of him was still terrified. Not of the bullets, but what of using the weapon would do to his mind. The other part, more prevalent, was exhilarated.

He found himself smiling.

"Tsuskuyomi."

oOo

The clock flashed **3:01 AM** when the phone call came, rattling Neji out of a sound sleep. He answered the phone slightly more curtly than usual.

"_What_?"

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Hinata asked with too much cheer.

Neji sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes with a groan, slashing his hair back from his face in a sharp motion. The bedroom was dark, the only glow came from the streetlights outside, muffled by thick curtains rippled in shades of blue. His bedroom was austere, composed of essential furniture that left the space open—"negative space" was what Hinata had called it when she had designed the room. There were a few pieces of art on the walls, his favorites from his personal collection. It calmed him, and he took a full breath before speaking again.

"What can I do for you, cousin?" he asked. His bedroom door opened, and he motioned Tenten into the room. She was wearing only a long shirt, and Neji made no small notice of his appreciation of her legs until she climbed under his covers—without permission—and hid them from view. He realized Hinata was still talking. "What was that, Hinata? I was distracted."

"I'm sorry it's so late," Hinata said again, while Tenten grinned at him. _You think I'm pretty… _He raised an eyebrow in reply. _And? _"Or, early, I guess. But Naruto and I need your help."

"With…?"

"We have decided to end Kabuto's bid for power in any way possible," Hinata said. "We want you and Tenten to evacuate any of our kin that are unwilling to fight. And I would really appreciate it if you could—if you could get dad and Hanabi out? I don't know how long this will take, or if they'll even target them, but I don't want to take the chance."

"What are you asking, exactly?" Neji said around the lump in his throat.

"Take everyone and run. Keep them safe until we can make sure it's safe for you to come back."

"No," Neji rebutted swiftly. He felt Tenten's hand on his shoulder, and seized it in an iron grip.

"What?" she mouthed.

Neji shook his head. "No, Hinata. You need me here. I'm not just going to run and hide while you fight."

"Me neither!" Tenten said into the phone, officially in his personal space. "I know I don't have super eyes or massive biceps-" Neji raised an eyebrow, she swatted his head—"but the bazooka can be locked and loaded in no time at all. You just give the word."

"We'll need you both on this," Hinata said calmly. "Tenten knows how to run, Neji, you just follow her lead. I need you to round everyone up by tomorrow evening. Leave anything unessential behind, it shouldn't take too long."

"Aren't you listening to me?" Neji snapped. "I'm not going!"

"Yes, you are."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because it's what needs to be done, and because you're smart enough to see that. Also, you can make Tenten go when she wouldn't, and despite what she says she'll be hurt if she stays."

"Hey!" Tenten protested. "I'm right here."

"Neji?"

Cold logic told him the truth. He understood the necessity of the assignment, even the value and honor within, but he had just found his cousin, and there was no way he was leaving her alone again. "No, Hinata, I won't."

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that," Hinata muttered, and he could just see the wrinkle in her nose. "Neji…" she took a deep breath, he heard the rustle of static ion his ear. "Neji, this is an Order."

"Hinata, _no_—"

"You will evacuate anyone who is too weak or willing to go by tomorrow. You will take them to a safe location and wait there until we say it's safe to return. You will take Tenten with you."

Neji opened his mouth to say no again, but found that his tongue wouldn't form the words. A mechanical, heavy thing dropped from his mouth against his will, leaving a sour taste. "Yes."

Hinata was only silent for a moment, and her voice was soft as raw parchment when she spoke. "I'm sorry. Bye."

Neji put down the phone, and his body turned to Tenten with every semblance of calm. "We can start in the surrounding area. I'm sure Uchiha has a map labeling location and density, so we'll need to call him first. What would be an acceptable safe-house? We could—" _split everyone up. No, she said to keep them together. I have to protect them in one body._ "—start now."

Tenten's eyes were dark in the muted light of the bedroom, her hair falling around her face in a hazy shadow. He liked her hair down, aesthetically speaking. It softened her stern features, smoothing the creases and cares of time. He dragged his fingers through the ends without thought, taking care to gauge her reaction.

She just looked at him, her silence a thick layer between them made up of more than just that moment. There were years there, years she was carefully locking away. Neji could understand that very well.

"It's against your will," she whispered. "Those Orders of theirs. You don't have a choice but to obey."

_I don't want a choice_, Neji thought, and that scared him. _I want to do what they say. They're my pivots._

But that would not help here. He thought round for something to say, but his mind was focused only on the Orders he had received, and it was unwilling to wander.

She threaded her fingers through his, and stared hard at their hands. Were his eyes once so lost as hers? Maybe so.

"I've found purpose with them," Neji explained. "The changes, the Orders, the half-looks and whispered words, they don't matter to me. They never have. My world revolves around them, Tenten, in ways I could never hope to explain. I _want_ to—"

"If you wanted to do it, they wouldn't have had to Order you," Tenten cut in, voice harsh.

Neji shook his head. "My cousin understands me better than I do sometimes. I want to stay because I want to control what's happening—it's… selfish. Logic has already told me this is what needs to be done."

Tenten's lips pressed into a thin line, and she climbed off the bed. "If you do this, you do it alone. I'm not going."

"I need your help," Neji said, the words coming without being bidden. He nearly choked. They were the words that would make her come, as his Orders demanded, but they made him almost ill. "Please, Tenten."

Tenten looked away from him, closed her eyes. "Give me the phone."

oOo

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked.

Hinata set aside the phone and laced her fingers together under her chin. She did not take her eyes off the computer screen. "Absolutely."

"Because I know that Ordering people can leave you feeling pretty scummy, especially if its someone close to you that you love. Like… a cousin. And I'm not saying that you're feeling scummy or that you should, just that you might feel like gum on the ground. Or maybe like overcooked ramen noodles, when they get really mushy and you kind of just push them into this little mush mountain that's all yellow and gross looking and has little chunks that aren't quite mush but aren't not mush either… Maybe."

"It's what needed to be done," Hinata said, but she looked away from his eyes. Outside the window of Naruto's home study, rain fell in a fine mist, giving the street a distinctly eerie cast. The lights in the other homes were dark, cars carefully tucked away into their shelters for the night. It was late—early?—and she had been awake for much too long. She should have called it a night hours ago, but hadn't been able to tear herself away from the screen. They needed to try and figure out Kabuto's plans _now_ so they could plan an attack, and sleep was lagging in last place on her list of priorities.

A shadow shifted across the street, and she blinked, rubbed her eyes. Was that a stray dog, or something else?

Naruto rested a hand on her shoulder, and Hinata turned back around to the room. The study was… eclectic. Objects of various size, shape, and color had been haphazardly stacked and tucked into shelves, papers scattered across the broad desk pushed against the wall. He had brought in another chair to sit in, and with the addition the room had become slightly cramped. Or, cozy, maybe. The carpet was plush under her feet, and she had no doubt Naruto had chosen it because he knew he would spend more time on the floor than at his desk.

"I think you should get some sleep," Naruto said.

"I'm fine," Hinata replied, wondering how long she had been lost in thought. "We need to figure out this thing with Kabuto, and Neji…"

"Yeah…" Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose awkwardly. "I think you should hear something."

"I'm a little busy right now," Hinata said quietly. The screen showed her the current concentration of Kabuto's forces, and she winced at the amount of red that signified his numbers. He held a full half of the city, but was concentrated in Queens. What _had_ Naruto been doing in her absence?

"Please just listen?"

There was a tremor through the bond, and she sighed, turning to face him. "Alright."

He beamed at her, darting forward to kiss her nose and pulling back before she could react. "June," he began. "Some year before now. I was tracking Sasuke across the Midwest, just after his finding-himself phase. I found him in Motel 8 right off the I-40 in Oklahoma City. I had just beaten the last King, and taken up the mantle, but didn't feel right about any other second in command than Sasuke. I came to bring him back, at any cost."

Hinata could almost see the scene in her mind, a hazy memory that was not her own. She could see the yellow lights of the street lamps parting the cheap curtains and patterning the floral bedspread; the tiny side table; the door of the bathroom standing open, but swallowed in shadow. Sasuke, back pale and crossed with scars, leaning against the bathroom sink, head hung.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said, shutting the door behind him. It bounced back open, leaving him framed in a halo of light. "Sasuke!"

"Just go," Sasuke said, and his voice was very quiet.

"Sasuke, I've been looking everywhere for you! Where have you been? I mean, I know where you've been, but—"

Naruto kept talking, wishing he could stop. This was one thing he hated about himself. Whenever he got nervous, he just started talking and couldn't stop. Why couldn't he just stop?

"—and then the Dairy Queen manager came and kicked me out, but I still had the receipt, right? So I just took that and ran and—"

"Why are you here?" Sasuke snapped, spinning around. Naruto took an involuntary step back at the look in Sasuke's eyes. Pale, bruised, the thin veneer of pride and arrogance cracked, opening onto something long, hollow, and dark that he had never wanted to see.

_I could make it stop_, Naruto thought. _I could make it all stop._

It would be easy. All he had to do was Order Sasuke to be his old self again, come back with him, be happy, and everything would be fine again. He could even Order Sasuke to forget about the past, and they could continue on as before. It was probably for the best. Sasuke was so scarred, so broken, and the fight in New York hadn't healed them as Naruto had thought it would. He had figured that the two of them teaming up to bring down Orochimaru would bring Sasuke back to him, but the second Naruto had turned around Sasuke had bolted.

Bolted. Just like that.

And he was starting to get a feeling why, a feeling that made him cold. Because that dark thing in Sasuke's eyes was fear—fear of him. Fear of Naruto being everything Orochimaru had been, Ordering the city to his own whims, bending Sasuke to someone else's will all over again.

And Naruto realized he couldn't do it. This stupid system—this stupid, _stupid_ system—had broken them all. Sometimes he couldn't help Ordering, he couldn't, but he wouldn't be like Orochimaru either. He wouldn't use this to serve himself, no matter what.

Sasuke was still watching him. Naruto swallowed hard, trying to find words. What, now that he actually wanted to talk, he couldn't?

_Come on, say something, say something!_

"You'll miss the hotdogs," he blurted out.

Sasuke blinked at him, clearly taken aback. But Naruto was on roll, and there was no use going back now.

"You love those hot dogs, even though you say they're beneath you. And you love the park and the libraries and all those weird things they've found to do with tomatoes. You'll miss that right? You'll miss me?"

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"I'm not," Naruto took a deep breath, but his voice still cracked a little. "I'm not here to force you back. I won't. I'm not gonna… I'm not gonna Order you. Never again. I just wanted to ask you to—to come back home? For the… hot dogs…"

"Naruto," Sasuke sighed. "You can't promise me that. You will Order me at some time, some day. It's inevitable."

"I do promise you! And I never go back on my promises! Believe it!"

"Oh, merciful gods above," Sasuke muttered. Was that a smile tugging at his face? It was! "What are you, twelve?"

"Sasuke," Naruto said, taking a step forward. "You're my brother. I can't do this without you."

Sasuke shook his head, looking away. Naruto was about to say something else—anything else—when Sasuke suddenly laughed. "You really couldn't. I bet you don't even know how many lives you have left."

"Six?"

"Eight. What's your SSN?"

"What's an SSN?"

"You're helpless," Sasuke said. "And hopeless."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"AM NOT!"

"ARE TOO!"

"Argh! I don't want to _argue_ with you!"

"Then Order me to stop!"

"No!"

There was a moment of silence, perfectly still, and then Sasuke picked up his bag and pushed past Naruto to the door.

"Sasuke, wait—"

"Did you bring the truck?"

"Did I… what?"

"The truck. I rode my motorcycle the whole way, and it'll be easier to transport with the truck."

Naruto was more than slightly confused. "Wait so… you're-you're coming back?"

"Well," Sasuke's smile was shockingly bright. "I would miss the hot dogs."

Hinata blinked, and it was Naruto's dazed face before her. Her mind felt light and swirly, like a balloon spinning in the air. She put a hand to her head slowly, leaning back in her seat.

"Did not know that was going to happen," Naruto said. "Whoa."

"Yeah. Whoa."

"Anyway," Naruto shook his head, blinked. "Um, moral of the story is that Ordering is, uh, bad for relationships."

"I see your point," Hinata admitted quietly. "But it's just… it's so _easy_. I didn't even have to think about it."

Naruto shrugged. "It's always easy. Always. I've slipped more times than I can count."

Hinata sighed, nodded, and picked up the phone. She hit the re-dial button as Naruto shot her a thumbs-up and stood up to an impromptu cheer.

"Hello?"

"Neji? It's Hinata."

"How may I help you?"

She winced at the plastic tone of his voice. "I wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have Ordered you, and you shouldn't do it if you don't want to. I would still appreciate it, but I _am_ sorry for the way I handled it."

Neji was silent for a long time. The minutes dragged on for so long that Hinata checked to make sure the call hadn't been cancelled.

Finally, he said. "I see."

Naruto motioned for her to continue, and she shrugged helplessly. She had always been terrible at apologies, too horrified by her own actions to know the words to say. And she always cried. She hated crying.

Hinata shoved the phone Naruto's way.

"No, no, no! Hi! Yeah, it's me," Naruto said, frowning at her. "Uh… how's it going?"

Hinata face-palmed.

"Hey, doing my best here," Naruto said. "Huh? Oh, no, Hinata is disappointed in how I'm handling her problem. Ow! Okay, I'm sorry, that was mean. No, Neji, not you! I mean, I guess you too, but it's really Hinata that wants to say this. Well, hey, she would have stayed on the line if you hadn't been such a jerk about it. You could have just forgiven her. Oh. Well… yeah. Neji… you're the best! Yeah, I know. Okay. Okay. Bye."

"What'd he say?" Hinata asked, leaning forward.

"He's over it," Naruto shrugged. "He's going to evacuate everyone and he loves you."

Hinata's expression was skeptical at best. "Really?"

"You have him wrapped around your little finger," Naruto said, and kissed her pinky. "Trapped in your perfect hand."

Hinata blushed and leaned into his shoulder, relaxing in the familiar smell of Dove soap and ramen. Naruto put his face in her hair and sighed with contentment. He brushed her bangs from her eyes, and then leaned in for a kiss.

It was the kind of kiss she had missed from him. The heat pulling like a bowstring through her blood, fizzing her bones; the slow, hot pool that formed in her belly and made her head spin. It was the kind of perfect kiss she had always read about in books but never really believed. It was the kind of kiss that said: "You're safe here."

It came as no surprise that they were interrupted.

Naruto actually growled as he ripped his phone out of his pocket, and Hinata giggled into his neck, kissing his pulse point, which jumped.

"Yeah?" Naruto managed.

Hinata was close enough to listen in to the call this time. The voice sounded suspiciously like… Shino. Shino, that weird guy she had hidden out with in Paris! That little snake! He must have been keeping tabs on her the whole time. "Naruto. I have located Nara and the others. There has been a minor altercation on the east side, and four of ours were wounded. They walked into a trap, lucky any made it out, let alone all alive. I'll keep you posted."

"Shino—"

"Give me that phone," Hinata ordered, wrenching it from his hand. "Shino?!"

If Shino was ruffled, his voice did little to admit the fact. "Hello, Hinata. It is good to hear from you. I was worried after you had to run away again."

"You were—Shino! You were spying on me!"

"I can see how you might think that," Shino said. "But I was on vacation."

Hinata was thoroughly taken aback. Was the world so regimented in Shino's mind that simply the idea that he was on vacation had alleviated all responsibility he felt to Naruto? It seemed impossible.

But, then, a lot of things about Shino seemed impossible.

"I also thought of you as a friend," Shino added, sounding hurt.

Hinata softened. "I'm sorry, Shino. I was just surprised. How are you?"

"Hinata…" Naruto whined softly in her ear. "Kissing…"

"Shh!" Hinata hissed. Was her face actually burning? "I'm sorry, Shino. Naruto is demanding my attention right now. Do you think we could get together for lunch soon and catch up?"

"That would be nice," Shino agreed softly. "Good-bye, Hinata."

"Bye," Hinata squeaked. Naruto was planting soft kisses up her neck, and it was horribly distracting.

He grinned at her, not in the least bit repentant. "Kissing _now_?"

She rolled her eyes, knowing it was ruined by her smile.

oOo

Author's Notes: Please review!


	36. Before the Storm

Author's Note: The past few days, I've been feeling like I've forgotten something important.

It was this chapter, guys. I forgot I wrote it. I forgot for a month.

Next stop: Lumosity.

oOo

"_Cheer up, the worst is yet to come." -Unknown_

oOo

"I want Naruto on the phone, _now_," Tsunade told Sakura. She grunted, legs and arms locked around Sasuke as he thrashed, trying to escape, blood coursing down his face from his spinning eyes. Sakura couldn't look away, couldn't cope with the sheer horror she felt at seeing her boyfriend literally losing his mind. "Sakura! The phone!"

Sasuke was laughing, laughing, laughing. He was covered in blood. It wasn't his blood. _It wasn't his blood_. Why wouldn't he just stop laughing? Why did he keep fighting, hurting? Her arm was bruised from the blind punch he had thrown earlier.

She had knocked him out for a few minutes with her frightened, returned blow. She felt bad—they weren't an abusive couple, they just _didn't do that_, had _never_ done that, not anything close—but she was pretty close to hitting him again to get him to stop laughing.

He just needed to _stop laughing_.

"Sakura I swear if you don't get that phone and get Naruto I will let him go!" Tsunade snapped, struggling to keep Sasuke under control.

This finally jerked Sakura awake, and she turned away with her hands shaking, scrolling through her contacts. She tried first Naruto's phone, and then Hinata's, but neither of them picked up. She kept calling, but after the fifth failed attempt she turned to Tsuande and shrugged.

Tsunade's mouth tightened, and she nodded. Sasuke's head slammed backward, and she barely jerked her chin back in time before he bloodied her.

Sakura looked back down at her phone, and in a flash of inspiration dialed the one number she had bothered to memorize.

It took two rings for him to pick up. She held her breath the entire time.

"_This is Uchiha._"

"Itachi?" Sakura's voice cracked with relief. "Oh thank goodness. Itachi, Sasuke is totally over the edge and we don't—we don't know how to fix him and I can't reach Naruto—"

"_Let me speak to him. Just put the phone next to his ear._"

"Okay…"

Sasuke finally stopped laughing when Itachi spoke, and though Sakura couldn't hear the words, she thought he must have been helping. Sasuke was looking more focused all ready.

It was only after she heard a faint beeping that she realized the line was dead. She started to pull the phone back, but Sauske reached up in a flash and caught her hand, Tsuande yelped in surprise, backing away as Sasuke stood. He grabbed the phone and crushed it in his hand. His eyes landed on Sakura, and she couldn't move, couldn't think, could only stare at the black star imprinted over a bloody field.

"I'll kill him," Sasuke whispered. "He won't _hurt you_."

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked, backing away. He wasn't looking at her anymore, didn't seem to be looking at anything. "_Sasuke_?"

"Leave him be," Tsunade whispered. "I'm sorry you have to see this, Sakura."

"What's happening?" Sakura asked, her voice trembling. "What's wrong with him?"

"Sasuke is… damaged," Tsunade said delicately. "He was, well, nuts for a couple of years, but he said he locked it away somehow, along with an incredible power he had gained. Unlocking that power means unlocking the madness as well."

"But, Itachi… what did he say? I thought he was supposed to help!"

"He did. He gave Sasuke a clear direction in which to focus himself. This way, Sasuke will get out of the city and get to Itachi quickly."

"Itachi can help?"

"He'd better," Tsunade said. They watched Sasuke stand in the kitchen, swaying, his eyes lost. Sakura took a step toward him, but Tsunade put a restraining hand on her arm. Sasuke's gaze zeroed in on that point of contact, and hissed.

"It's okay," Sakura whispered, pulling out of Tsunade's grasp and moving toward Sasuke. He watched her like a cornered bear, waiting until she was close enough to swipe his claws. "It's me, Sasuke. It's Sakura."

He pulled her close, staring into her eyes. She barely choked back a scream.

"I won't let him get you," he said lowly. "I won't let him."

"I—I know," Sakura said. "I know. But—but we have to get to him, right? So you can protect me?"

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed, and it took several long, heart-stopping seconds for him to nod.

"We need a car," he said.

"We can take mine," Sakura offered swiftly, but he was already shaking his head. He stumbled, his hand slamming against the wall. He started to whisper to himself, shaking his head.

"Too weak, too weak, too weak," he whispered over and over.

She really didn't want to lock herself in a car with him.

"I can… make you stronger, Sasuke," Tsuande said slowly. "I can heal you while we drive. How does that sound?"

"She's weak, she's weak and a liar and she'll kill you…"

Sakura traded looks with Tsunade. "You're sick, Sasuke," Sakura tried. "You were in a fight. You lost a lot of blood. Do you remember that?"

Sasuke nodded, frowning.

"If you're going to beat Itachi, you're going to need to have all you strength right? I'll watch Tsunade. I'll watch her, Sasuke. You can trust me, right?"

"I…" Sasuke shook his head. "I can't trust anybody."

"But I won't hurt you."

"Promises," Sasuke snarled, slammed a fist into the wall. "You and your _promises._"

Tsuande shook her head, rubbing her wrist where there was a ring of bruises. "We have to get him to Itachi. We've got to get him out of the city before whatever Naruto has been cooking up boils over."

Sakura swallowed hard, and then took a deep breath and forced her hands to stop shaking. This was Sasuke—no matter how deranged, how frightening, this was Sasuke. She loved him. She could do this.

"Sasuke," she said firmly. "Do you want to beat Itachi?"

"Kill him, I've got to kill him, he'll kill youhe'llkillmehe'sgottodie, die, die…"

"Look at me, Sasuke," Sakura said, stepping close. "Sasuke, look at me."

He looked, she tried very hard not to flinch.

"If you want to kill Itachi then we have to move now. Tsuande has to come to make sure you're strong. O—okay?"

She hated that her voice cracked. She was supposed to be the strong one here!

Sasuke shifted back and forth, chewing at his lip. His hands where they were clenched into fists started to bleed.

"I'll be there with you, Sasuke," she reminded him. "I'll be right there."

"We'll take _my_ car," Sasuke said, and for just a moment he looked almost sane.

The moment passed quickly.

oOo

Neji looked like Batman.

He was crouched on the roof of the building, looking down at the cars racing below, the lights reflecting in his eyes. The hands by his side were clenched into fists, and his hair had half escaped from the low tail where it was normally imprisoned.

Tenten let her presence be known by the crunch of gravel under her feet, and her fingers against his scalp as she quickly tied back his hair, so it didn't whip in the face after every errant breeze. She swung onto the ledge next to him, and looked down at the bust New York street with a faint touch of wistfulness. She had never been to New York before now.

"Are they here?" Neji asked, not so much as glancing away from the traffic. It was interesting to see him acting under the influence of an Order. He was so focused, working without pause to see it fulfilled, thinking about it every moment, especially when he had no other activity to occupy himself. She didn't know how much of it was the Order doing its work, and Neji's own anal-retentive personality.

Whatever it was, it had become great fun for her to try to distract him.

"Mm," she said, spinning easily on the ledge and laying down with her hands behind her head. No stars that she could see. _Cities_. "It was getting kind of full."

"At a seventy or ninety percent capacity? Who did you leave in charge?"

"Oh, well… I've never been good with numbers, but it was getting sort of full, if you see things in that sort of way. And there were good people in charge… Is that another helicopter? Have you ever tried counting all the helicopters?"

Neji sighed, and leaned over her, his eyes narrowed. When she didn't quite meet his eyes, he tipped her chin up with a hand.

"Are you doing that on purpose?" he asked.

"What?" she asked innocently. "The charm? One hundred percent natural, baby!"

He snorted, and she was surprised at how infectious his smile was. "I thought you didn't do numbers."

"Uh… wow, I wish I could speak whale."

Obviously not a connoisseur of animated classics, Neji chose to ignore the last comment in favor of spinning away and standing up. He brushed invisible dirt off his slacks while she stared unabashedly at his butt, which made him turn a rather fetching shade of pink.

"Come on," he said, offering her his hand. "It's almost show time."

"Should I wear the dress with the feathers or the sequins?"

His face was completely serious when he replied: "Both."

"Both dresses? Even skintight, that's going to get bulky."

"You are… annoying," Neji said.

"Thank you, thank you," Tenten mocked, bowing. "If you could just clap a little louder…"

Apparently, the big red button that was Neji's temper had been pushed one too many times, and the next thing Tenten knew she had been swung over his shoulder and he was striding to the door, looking quite pleased with himself.

Tenten hit him hard enough he stumbled, which went a long way to putting a dent in that smirk of his. In retaliation, he did not let her down until they were at the bottom of the stairwell, despite how she screamed.

When she was finally back on her own two feet she was dizzy and unable to help grinning. She leaned against him while she waited for the world to set itself to rights, and he courteously didn't move.

"Neji?" she asked once the world had settled down. "Do you think this is going to work?"

"Yes," Neji said, without a moment of hesitation. "Have some trust, Tenten."

"You're asking the wrong girl," she muttered, staring at the door. On the other side, she knew that the entire Kin contents of New York City and its outliers waited, their bags packed and their shoulders slumped. So many people to move, to hide, to keep together... What happened if one got lost? This was a stupid plan, and she was a stupid, stupid woman for going along with it.

"I disagree," Neji replied, his tone mild. He wrapped a hesitant arm around her waist, and she jumped in surprise. "It would have been very difficult to do this without you."

Not _I couldn't have done it without you_, but satisfactory. Better, maybe. Somehow.

"You're a real charmer, Mr. Hyuga," she murmured, and he chuckled.

"That's a first."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Because you make a habit of it, I suppose."

"Hmm." She took a step away, toward the door. "Well then, let's face that music."

"What? No kiss good luck?"

His smirk said he was teasing, so she leaned in and kissed his cheek, just to see his eyes go wide.

He didn't disappoint. As usual.

Grabbing his hand, Tenten pulled him forward before he could recover. "Come on," she said. "I'll be Robin."

oOo

Shikamaru woke up feeling like his head had been split in two. He was wedged into a corner, two warm bodies pressed against his chest. He smiled at the sight of Holly asleep on his chest, and Ino sprawled against his side, snoring. For such an attractive woman, she was a hideous sleeper—snored, sprawled, kicked, talked, Ino did it all. He was lucky his head was the only thing hurting after a night with…

Cutting that though off before it could go any further, Shikamaru took the time to untangle his hand from Ino's hair, and looked around. He was in a cell built of gray cement blocks, no windows, only a tiny metal door with no handle. It stank of sweat and stagnant water.

He couldn't help smiling.

Kabuto had finally come after him. Admittedly, Ino and Holly had most definitely _not_ been part of the plan, but everything else had fallen into place. He reached up to his earring and activated the tracker. Sasuke would be getting the signal on his laptop any moment now, arriving within hours. The hard part of finding the lair was over—now he just had to destroy it, and everyone inside.

The cell was also a slight kink in the plan, but he was betting he could work around that, given time.

Ino stirred, sitting up and stretching. Blood rushed back into his arm, leaving pins and needles in its wake, and he gently moved Holly off of him.

"Where are we?" Ino whispered. She sat on her haunches, the ceiling so close she couldn't stand. He wasn't sure even Holly would be able to stand in here.

"Kabuto kidnapped us," he whispered back. "But I've got it taken care of. Back-up should be here in a few hours. All we need to do is wait."

"Oh, joy," Ino deadpanned. "Any other plans, Artemis?"

"Did you just compare me to a children's book character?"

"Did you just admit to knowing about a children's book character?"

"You did first!"

"I have an excuse, I have a young daughter."

"So do I."

Ino blinked, and shrugged. "Fair enough."

Shikamaru tried to shrug away his annoyance at her tone—the bland, colorless tone that she used whenever he mentioned Holly being his child. It was the same tone she had used to tell him she was pregnant, and that she didn't want him anywhere near her ever again.

He had never questioned her—he had tried, sure, but every time things got too near the subject she shut down and left. He examined the cell again, surprised to find himself thinking that this time there was nowhere left for her to run…

It was now or never.

"Why do you do that?" Shikamaru asked her. "Shut down whenever I bring up Holly's parentage?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ino said, avoiding his eyes.

"There! You're doing it again."

"I don't wanna talk about this right now," Ino's voice was firm, but she was playing with the ends of her hair, a sure sign of nervousness.

Shikamaru scooted closer, until their knees touched, and tilted his head down at a ridiculous angle to look into her eyes. Touching her chin probably would have gotten his hand snapped off. "Ino. Why—why can't I be Holly's father? Why is that such a problem?"

"Uh, _duh_, you are her dad," Ino said, flipping her hair back and raising her chin. She was defensive now, which meant the claws were coming out. Good. "You've been that way a while, in case you haven't noticed."

"But you don't want me to be."

"Who says?"

"You did. Remember that? The whole: "I don't want you anywhere near my daughter" rant? Because that was not only last week, and the week before that, but also in the argument of two sixteen year olds shivering on your front porch."

Ino grabbed at her hair. "Are you going to hold that against me forever?"

"Only until you tell me the truth," Shikarmaru bargained. He grabbed a piece of her hair and tugged just hard enough that she smiled. He had always pulled her hair when they were little, though it had become more affectionate as they grew.

(At times, _way_ more affectionate.)

Ino darted a glance at Holly to make sure she was still asleep, then dropped her voice so low even Shikamaru could barely make out the words.

"I want you to know I am only telling you this because there is a good chance I'm going to die soon," Ino said. She took a deep breath. "When I found out I was pregnant, I thought my life was over. I just… I guess I didn't want yours to be over too."

"Ino," Shikamaru breathed, shocked. Of all the possibilities he had considered, that one had been among the first he had discarded. He had never imagined she could be this… "That's so stupid."

"No, it wasn't," Ino muttered, though she was blushing. "You had Yale and a great career set up for you and a life to live and… Temari. Yeah, you had Temari and that was good. So it was good. I thought it was good."

"You ever going to stop watching out for me?" Shikamaru asked wryly. Yes, he had gotten Temari out of the deal—not something he could ever regret—but the idea that Ino hadn't trusted him enough to make it all work out hurt more than even that loss.

Which was about the moment he realized he was in serious trouble.

His mind immediately calculated in the new information and spit out several possible courses of action. It calculated odds, emotional stability, factored in the situation and Ino's reactions. The best thing to do was to back away, friend zone it, and understanding where she was coming from would help rebuild the bridge that had burned so long ago. That course of action assured the best outcome for the plans that had a ninety-five percent chance of success.

Looking into Ino's eyes, he chose the plan that had a five percent chance.

(Which, with Ino, always seemed to be the case.)

He leaned closer, and Ino certainly wasn't backing away, when they were interrupted by the squeal of the door opening. They jerked back, turning to face forward as a flashlight slashed quickly across their faces. There was a grunt, and the light clicked off, leaving only the one dim light bulb dying in the ceiling.

"Grab her," came a grunt, and hands reached into the cell. But not for Ino, for Holly.

His Holly.

Shikamaru lunged, grabbing the wrist and twisting sharply. The guy on the other end yowled as it cracked, but Shikamaru was covering Holly now, shoving the groggy girl back into the corner and reaching for a knife that wasn't there. Ino shakily crawled toward the door, shoe in one hand, like it was any kind of weapon.

"You from Kabuto?" she demanded, all bravado. "Because I've got some _words_ for him, boys."

"Ino," Shikamaru hissed. "Get back here!"

Ino glanced over her shoulder, eyes flat as blue steel as she nodded to him. She mouthed: "Keep her safe."

Distract Kabuto from Holly by offering herself up. That idiot, that was _his_ job—

Shikamaru reached, hand wrapping around Ino's wrist for half a second before she was jerked out of the cell and the door slammed shut behind her.

"Dad?" Holly asked. "Dad? What's going on?"

Shikamaru swallowed, unable to respond, unable to do anything but hold Holly tight to him and cover her ears.

In the distance, he could hear Ino's first screams.

oOo

Naruto was woken up two hours after he had gone to bed by an insistent knocking on his door. He crashed into his dresser, the door, and several walls before he made it to the front, hopping on one foot because of a stubbed toe while simultaneously cradling his head. He was bleary at best when he finally figured out how to turn the lock and twist the handle.

"Bwuh?" he asked, which was as close to Bear as he could get when he was running on no sleep and no caffeine.

"Sir," Bear said, saluting. "May I come in?"

"Eh-uh-huh."

"I'm sorry to bother you so late," Bear said, shutting the door behind him and herding Naruto into the living room. Naruto sank down onto the couch and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes with varying levels of success. "But there are some things you should know."

"Shoo'," Naruto agreed, blinking.

Bear sighed, and after only a moment's hesitation took off his mask and rubbed his face. "I was with Sasuke tonight, Sir, when we were attacked."

Naruto stared blankly. Attacked? _Attacked?_

"He used Tsukuyomi," Bear whispered. "I couldn't stop him, Sir. I tried, I tried to—but I couldn't stop him."

"Yeah," Naruto said, brain finally kicking into gear. "I mean, no, of course you couldn't. Where is he?"

"He's on his way to Itachi right now, Sir, with Lasy Tsunade and the Sakura woman."

Naruto nodded, scrubbing his hands across his face briskly to wake up. Okay. If Sasuke had activated Tsukuyomi that meant he was madder than the hatter, but if he was with Tsunade and Sakura he should be alright. Especially if they were going to see Itachi. He would be fine. Sasuke would be fine.

"Naruto?" Hinata asked, shuffling out of the back bedroom with a blanket wrapped round her. She curled up next to him on the couch and leaned her head against his shoulder. He felt calmer with her around already, and he pressed a brief kiss to her forehead. "I felt something. What's wrong?"

Naruto explained quickly, and Hinata squeezed his hand reassuringly, before turning to Bear. She asked more questions of him, but Naruto couldn't keep track of them. His mind was focused on Sasuke, on the terror he must be feeling. Why hadn't they called him? Why hadn't he been there?

"It's okay," Hinata said firmly. "Naruto, honey, look at me. There you go. It's okay. It's going to be okay."

"But, Sasuke—"

"Is in the best hands right now," Hinata said. "After we get rid of Kabuto, we'll go straight there, okay?"

"Okay," Naruto agreed, relaxing a little. Hinata pressed his phone into his hand with firm instructions to go and call Sasuke while she finished talking with Bear. Naruto went to the bathroom and splashed his face with water, shaking vigorously before scrolling through his phone for Sasuke's number.

Sakura answered on the third ring.

"Hey, can I talk to Sasuke?"

"_He's, uh, well…_"

"_Who is it?"_

"…_Naruto?"_

"_Give me the phone."_

"…_okay…"_

"_Naruto?"_

"Sasuke!" Naruto exploded in relief. He _sounded_ normal at least. "Sasuke, how are you? Where are you? Are you okay?"

"_I'm fine,_" Sasuke said, and Naruto's heart sank at the cold, flat tone of his voice. _"I'm going to Colorado. Itachi betrayed me, Naruto, I have to kill him._"

Naruto wasn't quite sure what to say, and his heart was in his throat at any rate. It had taken years to get Sasuke back last time. Years, and years, and years…

"_I will contact you when I'm through_," Sasuke said shortly.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. He cleared his throat before going on. "Yeah, uh, just—just be careful, okay? Call me if you need anything. I am one-hundred and ten percent on your side, buddy!"

"_Maybe,_" Sasuke agreed grudgingly, which for Paranoid Sasuke was pretty much the gold star of gold stars. Naruto's heart lifted in hope. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad this time. Maybe… _"But I'll be watching."_

…Maybe he should go after Sasuke now, before this got worse.

He felt a flash of panic, and sprinted back into the living room. Hinata was there, and she had her hands clasped in her lap, staring down at her fingers, taking slow breaths. It felt like his stomach was twisting into knots.

"Hinata? What happened? What's wrong?"

"Shikamaru, Holly, and Ino have been kidnapped," she said. "Is that Sasuke? Can I talk to him?"

"Well, yeah, but he's kinda…"

"_I'm what?"_

Hinata plucked the phone from his hand. "Sasuke? It's Hinata. Hush. Shikamaru has been kidnapped, you have anything on that? Mm-hmm. Okay, okay. _Thank_ you, Sauske. You're fantastic! Alright, I'll talk to you later. Be safe, alright? I'll talk to you as soon as I can. Bear? Sasuke has a tracking device on Shika, so I need his laptop from his study. How soon can you have it?"

"An hour, ma'am," Bear said.

"Good. Call up the council and have them meet here in an hour, please. Then you should probably go get some rest, you look tired."

Naruto smiled as he watched Hinata dole out orders like she had been born to stand there on that very day, making a ratty old blanket look like a velvet cape, sleep still in her eyes and hair tangled. Bear was nodding along with whatever she said, never questioning, and only insisting that as long as she was up, he could be to.

The moment Bear disappeared, Naruto walked Hinata back to her bedroom and made her sit down on the bed. When she protested, he wrapped her up in his arms and lay down next to her until she stopped wriggling.

"One hour power nap," he suggested, eyes already closing. "We're going to need it."

Hinata agreed by turning into the curve of his body and snuggling under the blankets. Naruto smiled at the feel of her and her warmth, wondering exactly how he had done without it for so long.

He slept and, despite his worries, with Hinata by his side it seemed the best sleep he had ever experienced.

oOo

Kabuto inspected the syringe in his hand with no little delight, watching the woman tied to the chair tremble before him. The syringe was filled with a light yellow liquid, slightly viscous, and oddly heavy. It was the perfect harmony of magic, science, and torture. With the contents of that vial, he would have the world bowing to him in a matter of weeks. As soon as he found a way to make it potent in aerosol form…

Until then, it wouldn't hurt to have one more test subject on which to test his invention. Well, it wouldn't hurt him.

Especially considering the test subject was the very person who had handed him his key to power. Hinata may have smuggled out her closest relatives, but blood was blood.

"Now, listen Hitomi… Don't struggle but please," he smiled down at her, trapping her arm tightly against the chair. "Feel free to scream."

oOo

Author's Note: That last scene gets so much better if you substitute Kabuto's name for Justin Bieber's. Try it. It's freaky.

Oh, and review please, because reviews are like bombs of sparkle and WAFF.


	37. Running in the Dark

oOo

"I'm a damsel; I'm in distress; I can handle this. Have a nice day." -Megara, Hercules

oOo

"Naruto! What's Sasuke's password?"

Naruto looked up from the building plan he was hunched over with Shino, eyes wide. "Sasuke has passwords?"

Without the restraining influence of sleep, Hinata's glare was hot enough to melt steel, and Naruto ducked back behind the plans for cover while Hinata glared at the log-in screen, company logo still in place.

Bear stood at her shoulder, slightly singed, and stitching his arm. Breaking into Sasuke's office was apparently not an easy feat.

"Go to bed after you finish," Hinata ordered. "You're no use to us half-dead."

Bear nodded, and Hinata turned back to glaring at the screen. After a moment, a rather crazy thought came to her, and with very little options she gave it a try.

The byakugan pulsed into life. She could see the film of dust across the laptop screen, through the computer and into its inner workings—the lights flashing, the electricity crackling, the raw thrum of power only nature guided by science could produce. Naruto was a beacon of orange light, easily outshining everything else in the room, the glow comforting and familiar.

She tried to focus. The computer keys—q, w, e, r, t, y (huh, so that was where qwerty came from) the wear and tear of everyday life suddenly visible to her eyes. And nine keys in particular that had been typed in day after day after day.

The combination was suddenly so clear to her she laughed. Sasuke was just a big sweetheart after all.

_03281987SH_

Sakura's birthday, and initials. The sap.

The computer opened up, revealing a simple desktop, without icons. The screen looked fuzzy with the byakugan and she realized she was seeing static. She looked past it, and after a quick search found a program labeled Track.

She positively cackled when it opened up.

There was a list of names, a _long_ list of names, and she was surprised to find not only Shikamaru's, but her own, Naruto's, Ino's, Sakura's… basically everyone Sasuke knew was on the list. It was a little… freaky.

She clicked on Shikamaru's name, and the page zoomed out into a map of the city, triangles ranging over the screen as it tried to calculate Shika's position. After a small eternity, a glowing red dot settled over a housing district. It wasn't Kabuto's main base at all, but a remote location in a borough on the outskirts of the city.

Fear trickled down her spine, and she looked up at Naruto with solemn eyes. He met them, and nodded. They were going to have to split up.

"I've got the address," Hinata said quietly. "I'll take Seal and Bat with me for back-up."

"I would like to volunteer as well, Ma'am," Bear said, by her elbow.

"I thought I told you to go to bed."

"You did. But I took a soldier's pill, ma'am, and I have many hours of energy left at my disposal."

Hinata sighed, but nodded. She bit her lip before asking: "Do you have another?"

Bear nodded, and left to retrieve it, but Naruto squawked. "Hinata! What are you doing? You can't go alone! That nod was not a 'we have to split up' nod it was 'this is going to take longer than we thought but we can get through it together because the world lines up to fall before us' nod!"

"Wow, that bond is really not working like it's supposed to."

"Hi_nata_…"

"Shino, please."

Shino left, and Hinata came over to sit by Naruto on the couch, not protesting when he pulled her into his lap and buried his face in her shoulder. She stroked his head. She felt the dragging weight of his exhaustion, and the muted fear he felt for Sasuke. He didn't want her to go, not so soon after she had gotten back, where she might get hurt, or die, he should have sent her out of the city…

"It's okay," Hinata told him. "It's okay, Naruto. I am not completely helpless, and I'll have back-up with me. And if something does happen-" his grip tightened. "—then it happens. You know we can't allow this to continue. This is the best way, and it's worth the risk."

He muttered something that sounded nothing whatsoever like agreement, but nodded.

She hesitated, but finally added: "If something goes wrong, I don't want you to come after me."

"No way."

"Naruto. If this is going to work, you need to be concentrated on Kabuto. You can send someone else, but you have to stay on him. Promise me."

"Not. A. Chance," he snarled.

"If the situation was reversed?"

He was silent, glaring stubbornly at the wall, the whisker marks on his face in sharp relief.

"Naruto, please, I need you to promise me."

"Why?" he demanded tearfully. "Why do you need me to promise?"

"Because—" she wrapped him up tight. "I can't be the reason you break again. Please."

"You'll always be able to break me," he muttered. He shook his head, snorted, and sighed all at the same time. He sounded like a coughing dragon. "Fine. I promise."

She lifted his chin and kissed him. His hold relaxed slightly, and when she pulled away he was smiling a little.

"When this is over, we're going to laser tag." He said. "I totally would have beaten you the first time if I could have gone all out."

"You're challenging a woman who sees in the dark, through walls, at three-hundred sixty degrees to laser tag?" He nodded excitedly. "You're going _down_, buster."

"As long as it's you," he said, waggling his eyebrows. "You can take me down anytime."

"Go save the tri-state area," Hinata ordered, heading to the door.

"Yes, Major Monogram!"

"Curse you!"

oOo

Ino managed to stop crying before they put her back in the cell, but it was a near thing. Her entire body ached, stung, or burned. She wasn't even really sure what they had done to her. No visible marks, no bones broken or skin swelling—but she felt exposed, every nerve raw and sandpapered down past the bone.

She landed on the floor, and bit her lip before she could scream. She was not going to scream again, she was not going to scream again, she was not going to scream again. She's already ruined her mascara, no point in tearing up her vocals along with it.

A hand landed on her shoulder.

_I am not going to scream, I am not going to scream, I am not going to scream, I am not going to scream—_

_-a whimper does _not_ count as a scream._

"Ino? Ino, it's Shikamaru. It's me, just me."

Her body was moved, slowly, gently, until her head rested on a folded shirt and she'd been straightened out into a position that didn't make her want to die immediately. Ino opened her eyes to find Shika above her, staring, his jaw so tight it's a miracle his teeth hadn't cracked.

"Your pupils are ragged," Shika informed her clinically. "Psychological torture—what did they _do_ to you?"

"I don't know," Ino admitted, and that scared her. It was one thing to be tortured, but it was another not to have even the memory. "I was… it was dark and…"

She tried to remember. There had been a light, somewhere, in the corner maybe. Faint, yellow, dying. There had been… someone had been there. Someone with cold hands. Those hands had reached into her, pulled and tore and branded, but she hadn't let them in. She had kept them out, hadn't she?

A memory flashed in front of her eyes, of a tiny brown house with windows like broken teeth, a faded rug gravelly with guano, and a curl of smoke rising, rising, rising…

It wasn't her memory.

"…no? Ino, come on, stay with me. Stay with me, Buttercup, come on…"

Ino cracked her eye open with a frown, wondering how long she had been out. Seconds? Minutes? "What did you call me?"

Shika laughed hoarsely, and kissed her forehead in relief. It was uncomfortable. "You're awake, okay, good. You were only quiet for a minute."

"Ugh," Ino said, in what could have been agreement, or just discomfort. "I think I remember something. They were digging in my head…"

"Ino—"

"…and I dug back. Cause I didn't want them there, and it hurt…"

"You dug _back_? Ino that doesn't even make sense."

"Perhaps to your small mind," Ino said, mustering a smile.

Shika laughed, and it was rather hysterical.

"I'm okay, Pineapple-head," she said, seriously. "I'm going to be okay."

His head in his hands, Shika took a long time to reply. His teeth were still tight, but he managed a slight smile when he said: "What did you call me?"

"That's the spirit. Where's Holly?"

Shikamaru nodded to the corner. Holly was curled up there, her head pillowed on a jacket. It was the first time Ino realized that Shikamaru's chest was bare, and she felt bad. It was cold in the cell, and he had a fine layer of gooseflesh.

"I had to knock her out," Shikamaru explained. "She figured out where they had taken you. We could hear—" he cleared his throat. "I was gentle. She might have a slight headache when she wakes up, but nothing bad."

"Parenting skill 101: How To Knock Out the Kid," Ino said. "I usually favor Benadryl."

Shikamaru laughed, despite the fact that the joke really wasn't all that funny.

"What now?" Ino asked softly.

Shikamaru tilted his head back and closed his eyes. "I need to plan."

"What have you been doing while I was gone?"

It was rhetorical, they both already knew the answer, and she smiled.

"Don't overthink it."

He cracked an eye open. "Did you want me to plan or not?"

"Not if it's going to be a sucky plan."

"Ino," he put his hand over her eyes. "Just… go to sleep."

"Fine," Ino said, knowing it would be impossible. She kept her eyes closed anyway. "But wake me up when Holly comes around."

"Sure."

"Pineapple…"

"Go to sleep, Buttercup."

oOo

It was quiet. That was not a good sign.

Hinata activated her byakugan as she stepped into the building, shoes crunching over tiny bits of gravel and glass. The house was on the edge of a quiet little housing district off Seventh, half-abandoned and redecorated with graffiti and stolen car parts. The windows had been blow out at some point, leaving broken bits of glass clinging to the window frame. It made it seem as though the house had teeth, the darkness within haunted eyes where there were no more happy things.

She shivered, dodging the peeling wallpaper and creaks in the floor. She could see the tiny cracks and fissures in the floor, the yellow smoke stains running down the wall. And there, under the floor, a warren of tunnels with low ceilings and constructed of rough rock. There was only one way in.

"I don't like this," Hinata whispered to Bear. Bat was scouting ahead, and Seal was bringing up the rear. Bear wouldn't leave her side. She wondered if Naruto had anything to do with that. "Where are the guards?"

"Good question," Bear said, and pulled a gun bigger than her whole arm from his back pocket. He handed her a knife about as big, and showed her how to strap it to her waist. She didn't think she would need it but decided not to comment. "You see anybody?"

Hinata stilled, let out a breath, and extended her sense. The house, the street, the tunnels, the glass, the gravel, the people, the wall, the floor—none of that could matter; she pushed it aside. Living things were what she needed. Spiders and rats—no. A raccoon was digging in the garbage can outside, infested with several hundred fleas—didn't matter. The three men around her, tense, shining like beacons—nope. Farther, farther.

The tunnels. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

Something.

Long, sinuous, with a muted glow that said more of cold than anything she had seen before. It was not just blood, it was intention, sharp and uncaring as a bitter wind. It was a snake, and walking before it a man who was no better, stooped over in the tunnel and coming her way.

Beyond them, three lights shining. They were beautiful, strong, bright—but graying. Dying.

"Attack position please," Hinata said. She moved to the closet and opened the door silently, revealing the trap door hidden under a rug. "There is a man and overly large snake coming this way. Ino and her family are just down the hall from them…"

The snake struck, and the man that had been walking with it fell, convulsing. His light faded within seconds, and the snake turned back the way it had come. Going to quickly, back toward Ino, back toward everyone.

"Man is down, snake is on the move, let's go!" Hinata announced. She swung open the door and jumped down, taking off at a sprint after the snake. She remembered the last snake she had seen. It should have made her frightened, but instead it made her angry. She focused all her attention on the snake.

The byakugan worked best when she was focused. She saw too much, she had to narrow her field of vision if she wanted to track something, or she was so distracted she ran into walls. It was a fatal flaw. Her byakugan saw it, but her brain refused to take notice when the trap door slammed down behind her, locking Bear, Seal, and Bat outside. The second snake came from behind, following her by scent, and she didn't notice.

Hinata raced down the tunnel, warnings going off in her brain that she shut down so she could focus. The snake was just ahead, and she flexed her fingers once before taking a running leap and landing on the snake's back. It hissed, its head snapping back toward her, but she was already moving. Her hands hit once, twice, three times—each one striking a nerve, locking muscles and stopping blood. The snake was frozen, head bent back on itself, fangs dripping clear poison inches from her throat.

She drew the knife Bear had given her, and slashed its throat.

The byakugan let her avoid all the blood, and she landed on the tunnel in front of the dead animal. The cell door was there, and she could see the faults in its construction, knew exactly where and how to hit it to make it fall.

"Back away from the door," she ordered, and knocked it flat.

"Who's there?" a man asked, who she assumed was Shikamaru. She had never actually gotten to meet him.

"It's me, Hinata."

"Hinata?" That was Ino. She sat up woozily, Shikamaru supporting her. There was a third form in the corner, tiny, probably Holly. Shikarmari picked her up and had Ino lean on him as they walked from the cell. They moved slowly, and Hinata realized they probably couldn't see.

She turned on her phone and used it as a guide. Ino smiled at her gratefully. One whole side of her face was bruised.

"Alright, we just need to—"

That's when she heard it. A dry rustle, like fall leaves tumbling over grass, a rasp of scale against stone. She saw it. A snake, much bigger than the last, spilling down the hall with what she swore was a smile. It took up nearly the entire tunnel, leaving maybe a foot of room on any side of it. She wouldn't be able to get up on its back like she had the last one, unless she wanted her head cracked open.

She handed Ino her phone, and took off at a run.

"Stay in the cell until it passes then run for the trap door up the tunnel! I'll be fine!"

Hinata didn't know if they listened or not, she just charged the snake, punched it in the nose, and then took off in the opposite direction. Luckily, it followed.

Unluckily, Hinata did not yet have a full-proof plan to deal with a hundred foot long pile of scales and death.

The tunnel ended abruptly with a small door, and she burst inside. She just had time to lock it before the snake slammed against the other side.

Her byakugan flickered once, and died. She crouched on the floor, breathing hard, hoping the three feet of steel would keep the monster out until she recovered. The soldier's pill she had taken earlier had been good, but it had only done so much.

While she waited, she tried to look around the room. There wasn't much light, only a fluorescent bulb directly above her head, which showed the door and a few feet of smooth concrete. Beyond her circle of light, everything was dark.

_Think positive_, she told herself, listening to the banging on the other side of the door. _Ino, Holly, and Shikarmaru probably escaped, so that's good, and Bear… where is Bear?_

"That's enough, my pet," said a voice. "Hold still."

She didn't turn fast enough. A hand grabbed the back of her neck, a needle slipped under her skin, there was a flush of heat, and nothing.

oOo

"—_everyone is safe,_" Neji concluded. "_How quickly do you think you'll have this thing cleared up?_"

"I'm shooting for tomorrow. You got your family out right?"

"…_Yes._"

"You sound so excited."

"_Have you met my family?_"

"I love your family!"

"_Trust me when I say that in most cases the feeling is not mutual._"

"_You_ love me though, right?"

"…_That concludes my report._"

"That wasn't a no…"

"_Goodbye._"

Naruto snickered to himself as he scrolled through his contacts for his next call. It wouldn't have been half so fun to tease Neji if the guy didn't freak out over it all the time.

He hit Sasuke's name. It rang once before he picked it up, and it caught Naruto mid-snicker.

"_What's so funny?_"

"Uh… sorry. I was talking to Neji. It was—he was—urgh. How's the drive?" Naruto got out, trying to talk while half-choking.

"_We're in Ohio._"

"Good. Good state that Ohio. They have…" he paused, trying to think. "Do they have stuff in Ohio?"

"_Naruto._"

"I mean, obviously they have grass and trees and dirt because that's land and that's what states are made of—land. That's why Ohio is called Ohio, because there's land and someone named that land… Ohio. Maybe it was a Japanese person and they were just trying to say ohayo! And the idiot whoever-discovered-slash-named-Ohio was, like, wow! Ohio! Great name for a state! But aside from the land, and maybe that random Japanese dude, I don't know much about Ohio. Or land. Or history. And—and—"

Sasuke was being too quiet. He should have told him to shut up by now. It was so weird that Naruto kept blurting out whatever came into his mind.

"—so Neji loves me in this totally brotonic—that's bro and platonic mixed together, _brotonic_—way and I'm thinking blue for the wedding. Not the wedding between me and Neji, duh, because we're brotonic, but the one between me and Hinata. You know. Cause blue is nice, right? She totally axed orange. Don't know why—orange is a great color! Honey Boo Boo's mom had it at her wedding—orange and camo. Wait, bad example…"

"_Are you still talking?_" Sasuke asked, sounding slightly incredulous. "_I put the phone down five minutes ago._"

"You…" Naruto was at a loss for words. He was so offended he was seeing red. "How often do you do that?"

"_All the time,_" Sasuke said with cutting honesty. "_What did you need?_"

"I—just—" Naruto spluttered. "Forgive _me_ for calling to check on you!"

"_Hm. We're fine._"

The line went dead. Naruto was seriously considering stomping on it when the doorbell rang and he had to put his Everything-Is-Fine face back on.

It didn't stop him from grinding his teeth, but he managed. He was in the front hall when he froze.

_I could make it all stop_, Kyuubi whispered in the back of his mind. _Give yourself to me, and I'll make it all go away. I'll drown the whole world._

He hadn't heard that voice in years. Not since he had chained the Kyuubi, and taken its power for himself. If he was hearing it again… what did that mean? Was it getting loose? He steadied himself against the wall, face streaked with sweat, shaking.

He couldn't _do_ this right now.

"Come on in!" Naruto yelled to whoever was pounding on the door. "I'll be right with you!"

He ran back to his bedroom and slammed the door. His heart was bruising his ribs. He sat down on the bed and tried to breathe, but it was hard to get any air through the iron bands around his chest.

_Panic attack_, he realized dazedly. _Have to calm down._

_There is no calm. There will never be calm again once you let me free. I will tear them, I will kill them, I will drink in their screams. They will glory in it when I am through._

Naruto grabbed a pillow and smashed it against his face. It smelled faintly of vanilla—Hinata. Hinata had slept on this pillow. She had woken up in his arms, and her mascara had been smudged, and her hair had been tickling his shoulder. His palm had fit perfectly along the curve of her waist, her hand had rested on top of his. So soft, so sweet… He had bought her chocolate scented lotion once. He liked the vanilla better.

He took his first deep breath, and the panic eased. It was enough to remember what he needed to do.

_Kyuubi_, he thought. He was there, in the cell, and Kyuubi was still chained to the floor behind thick bars, the door tightly locked. Naruto looked him in the eye.

"You're not a threat to me," he said. "You just used a decade's worth of energy on two sentences. I hope they were with it."

The Kyuubi lashed its tails. _It was. You want it, Naruto. That has always been the hardest thing—you want all of it._

"What I want is for you to cooperate, or we're going to have to have another one of our little chats. Got that? Now sit down, shut up, and enjoy the ride."

He was gone before the Kyuubi could retaliate, back in his bedroom, a pillow still mashed against his face. Someone was tapping hesitantly on the door.

Naruto put the pillow down. He wished Hinata was here. Heck, he wished _Sasuke_ was here.

"I'm coming," he said. He opened the door, and Bat was on the other side. Her mask had been pushed aside, and she looked tired and pale. Naruto smiled for her. "Hey, what's up?"

Bat told him everything, from Hinata disappearing down a locked trap door to Shika coming up through it minutes later, going on about things like giant snakes and above her pay grade.

Naruto stood there and mostly focused on not panicking.

Hinata was missing. Again. He had just gotten her back, and then he had been stupid and let her go off _alone_ and she was gone.

And he couldn't do anything.

He had to make his move on Orochimaru—the car was prepped and waiting outside, his small army ready to go. The bond told him that she was alive, at least, and she wasn't in pain. He had promised.

Oh, was that feeling his heart being ripped out of his chest? Yes, yes it was.

"Get the car ready," he said, throwing his hands into the air in exasperation. "We'll send _someone else_ to look for her because of course _I_ can't go."

"If she was captured she'll probably be back at their compound, Sir," Bat said, rolling her eyes at his dramatics. "She's too valuable to kill."

That perked Naruto up. If he could keep his promise, _and_ save her…

"Let's go!"

oOo

Author's Note: Almost there, people. The last chapter is next...


	38. Taking Over

oOo

Life is eternal, and love is immortal,

and death is only a horizon;

and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.

-Rossiter Worthington Raymond

oOo

Hinata knew there wasn't much point in struggling.

Her hands and feet were tied with cord, a heavy blindfold lined with lead over her eyes. It didn't completely stop the Byakugan, but what she could make out was only faint gray impressions just in front of her feet. She was light-headed and disoriented and the floor was never where it was supposed to be. Someone was leading her with a tight grip on her arm, though they didn't bother helping when she stumbled, only tried to hurry her along.

A squeal of hinges indicated a door opening, and Hinata was pushed out onto a metal catwalk, spun several times—which nearly made her puke—and shoved down into a chair. She was locked in before she could recover from the spinning.

The person that had been leading her took up a post behind the chair, and a set of shiny black shoes entered Hinata's narrow vision. There was a pinch at the back of her neck and Byakugan flickered out. Cold fingers removed her blindfold.

Grainy black and white photos were all she had seen of Kabuto before now, and they did not do him justice. Limp white hair hung around a haggard face pebbled with white scales, the skin bubbled and oozing where the scales met skin. Glasses covered slitted yellow eyes that glowed with the fire of a madman.

The pictures had scared her. In real life, she found she was more angry than afraid. This was the man who had broken everything, ruined everything, for nothing but his own pride.

He reached out to touch her face, and she nearly took his fingers off.

"Feisty, aren't you?" Kabuto whispered, just loudly enough that she could hear him. His voice was smooth and oily, his tongue forked. "I am glad. I was worried…"

He cocked his head to the side like he was listening to something, even though the only thing Hinata could hear was their breathing. She took advantage of his distraction and looked around, trying to find something she could use to escape. She couldn't see anything besides the catwalk, dimly illuminated by a single bulb above her head, and darkness beyond.

"Don't look down," Kabuto advised with a chuckle. "It's a long fall."

"What do you want with me?" Hinata asked.

"What do _I_ WANT?" Kabuto screamed. His hands slammed against the chair, rocking her backward, his face inches from hers. Hinata's heart slammed up into her throat, and she pulled back as far from him as she could. Her feet couldn't find the floor. Kabtuo bared his teeth, breathing hard, and Hinata was sure he was going to kill her.

Instead, he set the chair down and leaned back against the railing, the façade of calm back on his face. Hinata tried not to shake.

"It's very sweet of you to ask," he said. "You're a thoughtful girl. I've seen that—I like it. Why, when you asked that cousin of yours to get your family out of the city, I was inspired. Family. Family is the most important thing, isn't it?"

He looked at her, and she could only nod, hoping that wouldn't set him off again. But he smiled.

"I'm glad you understand. That makes everything simpler."

Hinata felt ice crackle down her spine. She didn't want to make things "simpler".

"Family," he savored the word. "The most distant is still so close. Spiritually, emotionally… physically. It makes everything so much simpler. I thought you would fight it, but you won't. I know that now."

"What?" Hinata asked, and it came out as a croak.

Kabuto gestured to the person behind her chair, and they stepped around and into the light. Hinata stared, uncomprehending.

"Auntie?"

It really was Aunt Hitomi, in her lemon yellow party dress, her hair done up in her signature bun. Her makeup and the distant smile Hinata had seen every day growing up were perfectly in place, but her eyes didn't move. They stared forward, blank and glassy as a doll's.

"What—"

"What did I do?" Kabuto pulled Hitomi over and wrapped an arm around her waist, like they were a couple posing for pictures at a party. "Blood, my dear." He traced a blue vein up Hitomi's arm to her elbow, where he tapped the skin gently. "I only needed a little, in the end. I've developed something new, something incredible, that will change the entire world! I will control everything, and everyone, with just a little blood…"

Hinata started to scoot her chair forward, hoping to hit Kabuto hard enough to make him let go of Hitomi. He ignored her.

"It takes time to make, I know, but once you have the right compounds for the right family… you can have anyone."

He looked at her. His eyes seemed to burn right through her mind. "Anyone at all will do exactly as I say."

"Let her go," Hinata said, trying for bravado and pretty sure she had failed. "Now."

Kabuto locked eyes with her and lowered his lips to Hitomi's ear. He whispered something, and without a pause Hitomi grabbed the bar of the catwalk, and swung herself over it.

She fell without a scream.

It happened so suddenly Hinata couldn't even process it. One minute her aunt was there, and the next she wasn't. Hinata felt like a child at a magic show, waiting for the mirror to lift and show that the beautiful assistant was alright.

But Hitomi didn't reappear. There was no bunny to pull out of a hat, no mirror, no magic.

"Family," Kabuto repeated. "The most important thing. You understand that."

Hinata was unable to move; unable to think, breathe, feel. She had never even really liked Aunt Hitomi.

"Why?" she asked.

"I should have waited," Kabuto acknowledged calmly. He reached back and produced a briefcase, which he opened with a flourish. He started to prepare a syringe as he talked, filled with a viscous yellow liquid. "I was going to make you offer your arm freely in exchange for her life, then have her jump. But its better this way, don't you think? More screaming."

He lifted the syringe and pinned her arm to the chair. Hinata tried to do something, but her brain felt like it had turned to jelly. She could only watch as Kabuto slid the needle under her skin, and a burn started in her arm.

"I hope this doesn't kill you," he murmured after he had finished. Almost as an afterthought, he lifted her wrist and bit it, nodding in satisfaction when he was through. "You'll wish it did, but I hope not."

The burning intensified, sliding up her left arm and spreading across her chest. She felt like she was splitting apart, the heat in her veins screaming through her body and down into her bones.

_Naruto_, she thought. _Naruto, if you can hear me—_

Her vision exploded in white, and she started to thrash and scream, would have clawed the blood out of her body if Kabuto hadn't manacled her to the chair. Her head was seared, her lungs pumping in air until she felt like they would burst, and in every vein, every capillary, ran the serum. She had never felt anything like it, no even when she had been little and touched the stove. That had just been a moment of pain. This was never ending, seeming to build in intensity, until it felt like she no longer had a body, was just a pillar of pure heat, scorching anyone standing too close.

It didn't stop. It wouldn't _stop._

So Hinata's mind did the only thing it could—it retreated.

It was like she had stepped inside a steel box, and slammed the door shut on anything that wanted to hurt her. The pain stopped, and she stopped screaming, stopped moving.

"Open your eyes," Kabuto said. "And keep them open."

Hinata opened her eyes without thinking about it, needing to know her surroundings. Kabtuo's moist breath was puffing against her nose, his eyes glittering with glee. She wanted to lean back, but didn't.

Kabuto remained silent, watching her, and Hinata noticed that he kept blinking. Her eyes began to tingle, and sting. She tried to blink, but her body wouldn't listen, wouldn't follow her commands.

_No way_, she thought. _This is not Disney, I am no Pinocchio, I _can_ blink if _I_ want._

Kabuto cackled. "Blink when your body needs to."

Her eyes blinked desperately, and Kabuto howled with delight, clapping his hands together like a child. She willed her arm to punch him. It wouldn't move.

She had to get out of the box. Even if her body was still in that pain—she shuddered—even if it was, it was better than this. Better to die than be Kabuto's doll.

But when she looked, there was no door, no cracks, not a single seam in the steel bubble she had shut herself in. She couldn't get out. Couldn't get out, couldn't move, couldn't do anything!

"Stand up," Kabuto ordered, undoing her shackles. Her body complied. "Suivez moi."

Hinata had never taken a French class in her life, but it didn't matter. She complied to his directions immediately, following him down the catwalk and a narrow, winding set of stairs. Lights flickered on as they walked, great canned things that sounded like a band of insects playing death metal. They illuminated a carcass of steel and concrete, a warehouse stripped of anything and everything but the bones and sinew that held it together. There were no windows, and only one set of doors, great big things on rollers that looked like they opened up on the mouth of Hell.

_Run_, said her instincts. _Clobber him and run_.

She stepped off the last stair, and found herself almost directly below the catwalk, which cut the building in half, like a spine. Kabuto had stopped, and she was staring at his back. For the first time, she realized he was wearing a three-piece suit, dark and woven so tightly the price tag had probably been printed on gold. What she thought was a white scarf was wound around his neck, until it shifted and she realized it was a long, thin snake.

_Shudder_, said her mind. _That's nasty._

_No_, said her body. _I don't take orders from you._

"It's almost time," Kabuto said. "Just a few last preparations… Family. They always blow up at…"

He turned around, frowning. "Go clean up that mess on the floor," Kabuto snapped. "And be quick about it. Dump the excess outside."

Off he went, whispering to himself or the snake. Hinata moved forward immediately, and screamed within the box when she realized what the mess was.

Her aunt. Head cracked, dress dark red with blood, limbs cracked out at odd angles. Hinata wasn't sure how, but she felt like she was going to be sick.

For a moment, she was glad she was not in control of her body. It let her ignore what it was doing, bury herself inside, while her hands grabbed those tiny, broken wrists and started to pull.

oOo

Sakura was stuck bouncing in the back seat, a flashlight between her teeth and a map crinkled across her lap. They were on a street called Amelia 56, and it was _not_ on the map.

They hit another particularly large pothole, and the flashlight fell out of her mouth, her teeth snapping together painfully. She swore a blue streak, bending down to search for the flashlight, her shoulder slamming against the seat at another bump.

"Slow down!" she hollered at Tsunade. Sasuke hadn't said anything for a while, and if his white-knuckled grip on the dash was any indication, he was officially noticing the outside world. "Better yet, pull over!"

"But this is the way the GPS told me to go," Tsunade whined. "I don't understand how it could be so wrong!"

"I don't understand why boy bands have made a comeback or why people think Jell-o without whip cream is an acceptable dessert, and it doesn't matter. Pull—"

Her breath caught in her throat as a terrible feeling of dread swept from her toes to the crown of her head and back again. Something was wrong. Something was horribly, horribly wrong. Her breathing went wonky, and spots started dancing in front of her eyes.

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked. She realized they weren't moving anymore, and Sasuke was in the back seat with her, touching her back lightly. He actually sounded concerned, which was the only emotion besides annoyance she had gotten from him in the last twenty-three hours. "What happened?"

"I—don't—"

"Breathe, honey, breathe," Tsunade ordered. "Why don't you keep paper bags in your car you stupid lemur?"

_Paper bags? I don't need… am I having a panic attack?_

The shock was actually enough to calm her down, and she let out a huge breath of air slowly. She realized she had been sweating, and her muscles felt weak and trembly.

"I have to go back," she said with absolute certainty. "Something terrible has happened, I just know it."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "We're going to Itachi. We're almost there."

"No," Sakura gasped, feeling her chest seize up again. "No, no, no! I have to get back. You can go, I'll walk, I'll take a bus—"

"We're in the middle of Oh-Look-Another-Cornfield, USA, you're not going anywhere on a bus," Sasuke said. "They still use horse-drawn carts here."

In a way, he was right. They hadn't passed a town for miles, and she had no idea where they were anyway. For all she knew Amelia 56 ran right into Canada.

"We only have another few hours," Tsunade assured her. "We'll drop off the baboon at Itachi's—"

"—_what_ did you call me?"

"—and then drive you straight back."

"No!" Sakura exploded. "We need to go back _now_!"

Tsunade mumbled under her breath about stress and fiddled with her GPS again. Sasuke just watched her with dark eyes, all hidden agendas, and pulled away from her.

"Sasuke," she tried.

That was about as far as she got. Sasuke had gotten tired of waiting, and took action. His hand lashed out and caught Tsnuade in the back of her head. She slumped into the seat, and Sasuke shoved her into the passenger side, clambering up to take the wheel. He didn't even glance at the GPS, or at her, as he turned on the car and pulled back onto the road.

His eyes met her wide ones in the rearview, and she could see the calculation in them, numbers running, her plight reduced to a set of equations he measured against others.

After what seemed like a very long time, he looked back at the road. "We'll have to be quick. Hold on."

oOo

It was all going really well until Hinata tried to kill him.

Naruto had tracked Kabuto down to yet another abandoned warehouse. He wondered what it was about villains that made them so attracted to empty warehouses. Maybe they liked how big it was; of there were a lot of shadows from which they could chuckle malovently. Why were there so many abandoned warehouses, anyway? How many could one city possibly need?

On the upside, there weren't a lot of innocent civilians around to get caught in the crossfire. Too bad he was going to be in it—after this, he was taking a vacation. To the Bahamas, where he was going to have fruity little drinks and swim in the ocean and stare at all the bikini-clad girls until his brain _melted_—

-scratch that. He was going to stare at _Hinata_ until his brain melted. Hinata in a bikini. He could feel the slime oozing out of his ears now.

Shaking his head, Naruto turned back to his merry men, who looked like a special edition of _Guns and Ammo_ crossed with Schwarzenegger, crossed with Chuck Norris, crossed with Batman. If there was ever a band of people who looked more prepared to go to war than his little group did, it hadn't been seen since a group of soccer moms had wanted to buy the same last ticket to the Barney on Ice show.

Even so, it didn't feel right. Usually, he would have Sasuke and Neji on each shoulder, and Tsunade bringing up the rear. The raw crackle of power they formed was comforting to him, familiar, and now it was gone. Over the last several days, the city had almost completely cleared of his people—even Kabuto's "loyal" men were long gone, hiding under rocks until they knew which way this fight was going. There were also rumors that Kabuto had been experimenting on them, and bodies had been turning up in huge piles. That tended to cut down on numbers pretty quickly. It never really came down to other combatants anyway. When a King was challenged, everyone cleared out but the two fighting for dominance, and their three most trusted followers.

Naruto had brought Shino, Bear, and Bat with him. They were great, no denying that, and it had been a lot of fun to see how many, "We're going to Bat!" jokes he could get in before Bat pulverized him. (Fifty.) But… it wasn't the same. He didn't feel safe. In fact, he felt like he was waiting for a piano to fall on his head, his teeth replaced by ivory keys.

That might have been the paranoia talking. He couldn't feel Hinata properly. The little bundle of emotions he always carried in the back of his head felt like it had been wrapped in a million layers of cellophane, and all he could tell was that she was alive. He was worried she had been drugged, or worse, and it wasn't exactly helping him concentrate on what needed to be done.

At least she was alive. That was the really important thing.

He ignored the fluttering memories that told him there are many, many things worse than death. Lost eyes, fading, being pushed aside…

Unwittingly, he thought of Konan. The cracks inside of her were too big to hide now, too wide to cross. She's not alive, not really, because her most important people are gone, and she's just the shell that houses the memories. Once, she had come to him, drunk as a dog, and curled up on his couch, asking: "Why won't it scar?"

"Naruto," Shino murmured, his voice barely distinguishable from the breeze blowing. "The warehouse is empty but for two life forms. One is Kabuto. The other… a female. I'm not sure."

"Not sure?" Bat asked derisively. "You have a million bugs at your disposal and all you can give us it "female"? I can get more information by looking inside."

"No," Shino said simply. "Your head would have been blown off by the bomb my bugs disabled."

"Are there more bombs?" Naruto asked, before Bat can come up with a scathing retort.

"Undoubtedly."

"Do you know where they are?"

"None that will hamper our progress from here on out that I can detect. I am still searching the full complex."

"Right," Naruto said with a sigh. Neji would have been able to see them all. "Thanks, Shino. Everyone ready?"

"Yep."

"Sure."

"Yes."

"_Go for it, Idiot_,_"_ Sasuke smirked in his mind. _"Try not to trip and fall on your face, will you?"_

_Shut up_, Naruto thought irritably. It was a testament to how rattled the Kyuubi had made him that he was so terrified of facing Kabuto without his team. He could do this. He could do this.

_Hinata should be here._

Seeing as that thought seemed to have taken up permanent residence, Naruto just shouldered it, straightened up, and strolled.

There was an art to walking into an enemy's lair like you owned the place. Naruto was level expert.

"Yo," he called blithely, standing in the light cast by the door. The warehouse was dark. Naruto wondered if Kabuto thought it added to the Creep factor, or if the idiot had gotten tired of waiting and forgotten to plug in his nightlight. "So I got your invitation and, sorry, but I totally forgot the weed."

He can practically see Neji hang his head in embarrassment, and Tsuande snickering. Behind him, the others don't react at all.

At all.

Naruto pivoted and brought his arm up just in time. A thin, pale hand slipped against his arm and away like a fish in a stream, the body already moving past him. On the floor, Shino, Bear, and Bat were crumpled like used soda cans. They were twitching, which at least meant they were alive.

The female. He would have sensed Kabuto's presence—could still sense it, somewhere overhead—but the woman he was fighting didn't seem to have any life in her at all, nothing he could use to follow her movements.

"Oh, what," he called, trying not to show his uneasiness. _Where is she? Where is she?_ "You're going to have someone else fight for you? Weaksauce."

"I thought you would appreciate the opportunity," Kabuto said. He sounded extremely happy. Naruto wondered how much drugs that would take. Probably a good thing he hadn't brought the weed. "To reclaim what you have lost."

"How do you figure?"

Lights blossomed in the ceiling, big bulbs the size of his torso, loud enough that Naruto was glad he'd lived in NYC as long as he had, and could tune out annoying noises. The flash was sudden and bright, and for a second Naruto was blinded. He jumped away from where he was standing, waiting for his eyes to adjust.

When they did, he poked one just to make sure they were working, because he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Hinata looked like a ghost. Pale and waning in the light, dressed in white, hair and eyes like spills of black ink. Her hands were extended toward him, straight and sure, her feet balanced. She did not smile, did not blink. He couldn't feel her.

A tide of red anger made Naruto's vision spark, but he held on through the flow and turned his glare on Kabuto. _He was going to kill that_—

Pain flickered up his arm, and Naruto jumped back in surprise from Hinata's attack. His left arm hung limp at his side, completely numb from the shoulder down. The moment she had gotten his attention, Hinata was back where she started, unmoving.

"Brilliant," he hissed when Naruto was through. "Family, Naruto, is the—"

"Are you seriously going to villain monologue right now?"

"—most important thing. More important than life, it transcends even death. I have to come know this personally, though through a great price. A great price…" Kabuto muttered, rubbing the patch of skin where scales met flesh absently. Cracks opened up, and dark blood dripped down his face. "Everything has its cost. Even…"

While Kabuto was distracted, Naruto took a step toward the stairs, watching Hinata for her reaction. She stepped with him, in tandem, her blank stare never moving from his face.

Kabuto was still talking to himself in a murmur, and Naruto wondered where along the line the man had lost his mind. He had clearly done some kind of experiment on himself, and just as clearly it had not turned out well. The man had no forces of any kind, no followers waiting to be called forth to fight (Hinata didn't count—she was on Naruto's side. Technically) and was so wrapped up in navigating the broken planes of his mind that he couldn't even notice.

Naruto was actually starting to feel a little guilty about having to kill him. The guy was twisted and broken—how much of that was his own fault?

He took another step towards the stairs, and prepared to make a run for it. Hinata wasn't operating on a red battery, so it was pretty unlikely that she was going to match his speed. Or, really, come anywhere near it. Naruto considered this a good thing, as it gave him plenty of time to get past Kabuto's last "defense", kill him, and hopefully free Hinata from whatever spell she was under.

Naruto took off at a run, and two steps in was slammed against the wall. It felt like getting hit by a giant club, and spots danced in front of his eyes, he could feel a trail of blood running down the side of his head.

Blinking, he found Hinata's face, inches from his own.

"What the—"

Which was when she snapped his arm.

oOo

Hinata could still remember a college class she had taken on philosophy. The professor had a love of classics and leather jackets, and they often spent half of class just asking questions. One morning, he had come in and written on the whiteboard a quote by C.S. Lewis, all caps: "YOU DO NOT HAVE A SOUL. YOU ARE A SOUL, YOU HAVE A BODY."

He had tapped the board, and said: "Is this true?"

At the time, Hinata had agreed. The spirit was her essence, the body more a vehicle to cart it around.

Hinata was now beginning to understand, that without a body a spirit had nothing to attach itself to, no method of connection to earth. She was trapped, able to move and hear and see, but not of her own will. How long could a soul last like this?

Naruto flickered, and Hinata realized her thoughts had been drifting again. Her body turned to intercept Naruto's next attack, hand lashing out and slamming into his jugular. Naruto choked and stumbled, falling to his knees. He was fast, but she could anticipate his every move, his every thought. Her Byakugan could see the shifting of his muscles, the sparks of electricity crackling through his brain. It could also see the way his arm hung broken and useless down his side, the blood on the side of his head, his lip, his neck, his shoulder. It could see the bruises flowering up, and the slow drag of his right leg.

Hinata didn't have a scratch on her. Naruto wouldn't hit her, wouldn't even really try. His goal was to make it past her to Kabuto, and as long as he continued his useless plan, he would die, and so would she.

Kabuto was taunting him from above. "You didn't realize how strong she was, did you? That's your fatal flaw, Naruto Uzumaki—you want to protect everyone else. You won't make sacrifices, the _necessary_ sacrifices. Family is the most important thing. But you have to protect them, you can never let anyone else stand on their own two feet, be an equal. Hinata knows what I'm talking about, don't you, my dear?"

Hinata's body responded with a nod, and in more than one way she found herself agreeing with Kabuto's words. Naruto didn't see her as his equal—he never had. He wanted to protect her, and she loved that about him, but at the same time…

"Tell him, Hinata," Kabuto said.

Her tongue was suddenly free. She found the words already waiting.

"Fight me," she said. "You know me, Naruto. I'm strong, I can take this. If you don't, I will kill you, and he will win."

Naruto looked like he was being torn in half. "But—but—" he stammered. "I can't just..."

"I don't want to hurt you anymore either. You said we're partners. Prove it."

Hinata almost had to laugh at the expression on Naruto's face, as his brain broke and he scrambled to fix it. Blood made a pool around his feet, and Hinata knew they didn't have much time left to decide.

But even before he lifted his head, and she saw the fire in his eyes, she knew his answer. With him, she always knew.

"I'm really sorry," he said. "For not… trusting you, before."

"I have a list of ways for you to make it up to me."

"Funny, so do I."

"And a list of ways for me to make it up to you."

There was that smile. "Funny, so do I."

"Enough talking," Kabuto snarled. "Kill him!"

Hinata's body was moving forward, and her mouth was no longer her own, she didn't have time to shout a warning.

Naruto's eyes gleamed red.

oOo

Hinata was a storm. It was almost as though she had been baiting him before, holding back despite her systematic destruction. Now all the switches had been flipped, and the only thing worse than the lightning was the thunder.

She struck, and the chakra in his arm bottled up, like she had built a dam inside his veins. But the chakra of the Kyuubi was not like others, and it pounded against those invisible walls until they were so much rubble. He grabbed hold of her arm, twisted, flipped her over backwards and into the floor. She kicked his feet out from under him, and he just barely rolled away in time before her hand slammed into the concrete, cracking it like glass.

Naruto was beginning to think he might actually be in trouble.

She was just so _fast_. On the rare occasions he could actually catch hold of her for a moment or two, she just used it to her advantage and blocked his chakra or broke his wrist before she danced away again. The Fox's chakra was healing him faster than she could inflict the damage sure, but he was starting to wear down.

If the smile on Kabuto's smug little face was anything to go by, he knew it too. Hinata didn't have an expression, of course, but he was pretty sure she was kind of enjoying showing off.

Not that he hadn't landed a few blows. Hinata had a few bruises, and she was favoring her left leg. He would have preferred a thousand times over to have those injuries himself, but he kept reminding himself that she was strong. She could take it. All he had to do was knock her out, and get to Kabuto.

She just wasn't making it easy on him.

Naruto jumped back and Hinata's fist just missed him, but the roundhouse kick took him by surprise. He flew back and hit the wall, shattering a window and possibly his spine. He hit the floor on all fours, and took a second to cough up the blood in his lung.

Despite the pain he was in, he couldn't help but be impressed by Hinata's lethal force. If he were anybody else, he would be dead ten times over.

_What I need_, he thought. _Is to grab hold of her long enough to send a burst of Fox's chakra through her—that'll keep her down for a while._

But how? The only time he was close enough to hit her was when she was close enough to hit _him_.

And judging by the amount of blood he had just gotten out of his lung, letting her get near him was not a good thing.

Naruto got his feet under him, and looked around warily for Hinata. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet just in front of the stairs, waiting for him.

There was nothing in the warehouse he could use to his advantage, no chains or boxes. Nothing, except his three collapsed friends at the door…

_Light bulb_, Naruto thought gleefully.

Naruto didn't bother with any feints or half-starts, he went into a full-out sprint toward his friends, and slid to a stop next to them, already rifling through their pockets.

"Sorry, guys," he said. "Dinner on me."

His fingers locked onto his prize at the exact same moment Hinata locked onto his head, and threw him. He landed halfway between her and the stairs, but by the time he had gotten up she was already on top of him, knee whooshing toward his face.

"Sorry," Naruto told her, closed his eyes, and set off the flash bomb.

Hinata didn't scream or anything, and he was glad, because he knew it must have hurt. The Byakugan was great, but it was also sensitive, and the last time a flash bomb had gone off in front of Neji like that he had been out of commission for three hours.

With Hinata, Naruto figured it translated to about four seconds.

He sprang up, wrapped Hinata in his arms, and held on. Her eyes were redder than his, and streaming, but she still struggled against his hold. One of her hands got free, and she landed a blow to his arm just as his chakra snapped out and hit her hard.

The force of the explosion sent them both flying, rolling away. Naruto wasn't as bad off, and winced when he saw Hinata bounce three times before rolling to a stop against the wall, over by the others. It felt like he had dislocated his shoulder, and his vision was muddy with pain. He forced himself to his feet, and through the haze found Kabuto still leaning against the railing, watching Naruto with a confused interest.

_Come on_, Naruto told his body. _Move_.

Slowly, his body did as he ordered. Each step was painful, like a shot of liquid fire between each crack and bruise on his body. The Fox's chakra was sluggish to heal after the burst, and by the time he had nearly gained the stairs, he was still limping and clutching at his arm.

Kabuto watched him come, eyes wide, panting.

"Come down," Naruto ordered him, because there was no way he was going to climb those stairs. "Now."

"One," Kabuto hissed. "One…"

"Kabuto, stop playing around and—"

Naruto took a step forward, and Kabuto crowed in triumph. A symbol lit up the floor, and Naruto had just enough time to realize he was standing in the exact center before it flashed. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe, and as the symbol started to suck away the Fox's chakra, he could barely even scream.

oOo

"Yes!" Kabuto shouted. "Yes, yes, yes! I will use the power of the Fox to resurrect you Lord Orochimaru! I have done it! I will kill you!"

Hinata could hear Naruto screaming, but tried not to listen. There was nothing she could do now, nothing but wait.

The Fox's chakra—which Naruto was going to explain _in detail_ later—was apparently corrosive. Her own chakra was being eaten away, and with it, the poison Kabuto had injected into her system. Her finger twitched, and so did her mouth, almost a smile. It was taking too long, though, much too long. Naruto could be dead before she could do anything.

Waiting, waiting, waiting—why was it taking so long? Her hand moved, then her arm, she was able to twist her head enough to see the three comrades Naruto had brought along in a heap on the floor. One of their eyes were open, their weapons still clutched in their fists. Hinata reached toward them, and it took an eternity for her hand to finally touch the knife still in Bat's grasp. The woman's eyes blinked, and Hinata nodded.

She couldn't stand, but that just made her less obvious. She pulled herself across the floor, knife in her fist, using the shadows along the wall as cover. Naruto was on his knees, head thrown back, and mouth open, nine translucent tails swinging all around him. Kabuto was watching greedily, his glasses reflecting the gristly scene, the snake around his neck twitching with delight.

Hinata gritted her teeth and pulled herself forward another foot. Her vision was still blurry, and she knew she couldn't use her Byakugan. She wasn't sure she would ever be able to use it again, but that didn't matter now. She was below the catwalk, and there was a door. She remembered being pushed through a door when she was forced in here earlier and… yes, there it was, just above.

By some miracle, the door wasn't locked, and Hinata managed to heave herself in and close it behind her. She hoped Kabuto hadn't heard the squal of hinges, but Naruto was covering almost every other noise. Even in the tiny, cramped spiral stairwell she could hear him.

Up the stairs, open the door, she was panting. Her knees threatened to collapse at every step. Kabuto was there, only a hundred feet away, and he was laughing, laughing, laughing. There appeared to be two of him, swinging back and forth.

Hinata was halfway there when she heard a hiss and looked down. The snake that had been coiled around Kabuto's neck was in front of her, blocking the way. Usually, Hinata couldn't bring herself to kill living things. Even roaches she tended to scoop up with a paper towel and carry outside. But for the snake, she made an exception.

She dropped to her knees, and the snake rose up, mouth open and fangs glistening with venom. Hinata remembered a story of how her grandmother had dealt with snakes, and shifted her knife to her injured hand.

"Oh, please," Hinata gasped. "I… managed… bigger ones… than… _you_."

She lashed out with her knife, and the snake darted forward to bite at it. Hinata's other hand grabbed onto the snake's tail while it was distracted, and with a vicious crack she snapped the snake like a whip, and the head popped off, sailing away into the dark.

_Thanks, grandma_, Hinata thought.

Naruto's screams were fading, and the light was dimming. He was down to just two tails now, and even as she watched one of those disappeared. Hinata used the railing to get to her feet, and came up behind Kabuto. The knife felt so heavy.

"Yes," Kabuto whispered. "Yes, I can, I can do it. Almost, almost, just a little more…"

Surely, she couldn't just stab him in the back. Her hand was trembling, all of her was trembling, but Naruto was on the floor, barely even twitching, and she had to act.

"Kabuto," she said.

He turned, and his face was red with blood, tears leaking from one eye, or maybe snake venom. She wasn't sure. It didn't matter.

"Hinata," Kabuto said dismissively. "Go join your aunt."

"I would say the same," Hinata snarled. "But you two won't be going to the same place."

"You can't kill me, little girl. I—am—IMMORTAL!"

"Not anymore," Hinata whispered, and slammed the knife into his chest, letting it sink until the hilt was flush with his skin.

Kabuto stumbled back, blood already bubbling on his lips. Hi hand hit the control panel behind him, fingers slipping across it, still trying to finish what he had started. "I—" he gasped. "Hate…"

"The feeling's mutual," Hinata snarled, and pushed him over the side. He fell screaming.

Hinata peeked over the railing. Naruto was on the floor, one tail remaining, the light of the array around him had gone dark. The console beside him beeped.

"_Countdown initiated_," said a computerized voice. "_Three minutes remaining._"

Hinata didn't need to ask what it was. She knew. Kabuto had made her bury the bombs after she had buried Hitomi's body. She didn't care anymore.

She slipped limping down the stairs a few times, but she finally made it to the bottom. It took the last of her strength, and her body collapsed next to Naruto's. His eyes were barely open, and he managed a smile. His fingers tangled up with hers.

"_One minute remaining_."

"Together," Naruto muttered.

Hinata nodded. At least they had that. She could feel the silly, blue plastic ring on her finger, where Naruto held her hand. She wished she had gotten him one, so people would know, when they were found.

But they knew. And that was enough.

"Together," Hinata agreed.

oOo

Author's Note: And everybody died.

The End.

...I'm joking. There's an epilogue!


	39. Something Like an Epilgoue

oOo

"It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we're missing until it arrives." - Anonymous

oOo

In the movies, the recovery room was always a lovely symbolic white, with gauzy curtains blowing in a slight breeze. The person who had been saved from certain death woke up alone, and wondered if they were in heaven, and what had happened to everyone else. Or, in many cases, a _someone_ else.

Hinata's waking up was not like that.

She knew exactly where she was when she woke up, because everything was orange. The walls, the comforter, even the million-thread-count sheets. She knew she was alive, because basically every part of her hurt, and she knew where Naruto was too, because he still had her hand. She turned her head and saw him next to her, drooling in his sleep, a crosshatch of Band Aids over his cheek.

He looked perfect. Alive, and handsome, and perfect. She squeezed his hand gently, and he smiled in his sleep.

Flowers, stuffed animals, and get-well cards littered the room. The door opened, and Neji stepped inside. He found her eyes opened and gave one of his rare smiles.

"Good morning," he said. "How are you feeling?"

Hinata thought it best not to answer that question. "What happened?" she rasped.

Neji poured a cup of water, and helped her drink it. "I'll get the others," he said, not answering her question, and was gone before she could stop him. She felt a tug on her hand, and looked over to see Naruto yawning, his eyes open.

"Am I in heaven?" he asked, when he saw her. "'Cause, baby, you look like an angel."

Hinata laughed, which hurt, and Naruto laughed, which hurt, but they didn't stop until the door burst open and a very noise parade marched in.

Sakura hugged Hinata gently, followed closely by Ino and Holly, and then Hinata was just hugging everybody, including Hanabi and even her father. Naruto wasn't getting as many hugs, because Sasuke was standing over him and berating him, and refusing to let anyone jostle the idiot for fear he would lose the brain he had left.

Naruto finally ended it, by pulling Sasuke into a back-slapping hug, and reaching for the next person without permission.

Everyone settled around the bed, and Sakura finally answered Hinata's questions.

"Sasuke drove about two-hundred miles an hour all the way back," she said, with a smile. "He got there just in time to get you all out."

"I _knew_ you liked me," Naruto said triumphantly.

"Oh, please," Hinata said with a wink. "We all know he came back for _me._"

Sasuke laughed, everyone laughed, to the point Hinata was worried the neighbors were going to call the cops. After that, everyone talked at the same time, and Hinata wasn't even aware she was tired until Tsuande and Sakura started kicking people out, and ordered the two of them to get some rest.

Naruto sighed contentedly, and looked at her. "You know," he said. "After this, our lives are going to be a cakewalk."

Hinata raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Don't you think?"

"We're going to have to settle down the city, root out any of the last of Kabuto's supporters, make sure Sasuke isn't crazy anymore, and a hundred other things. Not to mention planning a wedding! I'd like to see how you're going to handle asking my father for permission."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Well," Naruto said slowly, pulling her closer and smiling into her eyes. "Let's settle the important questions first. Where do you want to honeymoon?"

"Hmm," Hinata smiled. She thought of all the places she had seen running, of Paris and Texas, the mountain peaks of Colorado and the deep, clear lakes in Italy. She thought of the warm, sandy beaches on the coasts, and the light of the water reflecting off the cresting sea.

"Right here," she said. "Right here is just fine by me."

oOo

Author's Note: I couldn't remember if I had used the quote at the top before. :p

Well, that's it! I wanted to finish and post this before I left on a year and a half long mission for my church. I won't be able to write at all during that time. Thank you so much for all the reviews and encouragement-I managed to finish because of you!

Thank you all!


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